Women's Development Corporation Records, 1979/2015

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
Newman Library
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694
Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish material from Women's Development Corporation Records must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Women's Development Corporation Records, Ms2016-012, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Summary

Extent:
8.5 Cubic Feet Three records boxes, three small flat boxes, one large flat box, one roll of drawings, one large flat folder of drawings, 16 foam board presentation panels.
Creator:
Women's Development Corporation (R.I.)
Abstract:
The Women's Development Corporation (WDC) is a Rhode Island based housing developer and non-profit founded by a group of architects, designers, community planners, and historic preservation professionals. These records document select activities of the WDC from 1979-2015.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Women's Development Corporation Records, Ms2016-012, Special Collections, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

These records document select activities of the Women's Development Corporation (WDC) of Rhode Island from 1979-2015. Materials include professional correspondence from WDC staff to peers, funding agencies, politicians, and clients; commendations received by the WDC; research notes and reports; administrative records, including meeting minutes and bylaws; public relations materials; press coverage by and about the WDC; project documentation, including design sketches, presentation drawings, photographs, and planning materials; audio-visual recordings; electronic records on DVD; and furniture models used in the participatory design planning process.

Contains photographs of Susan Aitcheson's retirement, 2015.

The Professional Papers series consists of material relating WDC's great effort to gather funding and support from several organizations and institutions to fund and subsidize housing for low income women and families. This is supported by correspondence, research notes, reference files related to both the profession and the role of women in architecture. Particular attention was given to the WSPA - Women's School of Planning and Architecture, with related correspondence, publicity, awards.

Scrapbook portfolio documenting selected housing projects and properties developed by WDC between 1980-1997. Entitled "Planning, Designing and Building Homes for Families and Communities," the portfolio explores the WDC's Participatory Planning Design exercises and prototype development from 1980-1982. Originally established for the WDC's fifteenth anniversary and expanded over time to document new projects.

This series comprises conceptual sketches, fabric and paint swatches, and planning activities from the WDC's original 1980 participatory design workshop with low-income women. The series also includes prototype floorplans produced by Susan Aitcheson after the workshop.

Footage shot for Dream Builders on Home & Garden Television. Betacam SP tape.

Footage shot for Dream Builders on Home & Garden Television. Betacam SP tape.

VHS tape

DVD-R, interview conducted by Andrea Merrett, Columbia University Archives

DVD-R

DVD, Running Time 8 min 40 sec

DVD+RW

DVD+RW

Balsa wood and dyed cardboard furniture pieces used for participatory design activities.

16 foamboard panels documenting the history of the Women's Development Corporation and its partner non-profit, the Housing Opportunities Corporation. The panels include newspaper clippings of opposition to WDC housing in its early years, a project breakdown by deecade, organizaitonal charts, lists of staff, and photographs of major projects and milestone events.

Biographical / historical:

The Women's Development Corporation (WDC) is a non-profit housing developer in Rhode Island. The WDC was founded in 1979 by a group of architects, designers, community planners, and historic preservation professionals. The founders included Susan Aitcheson (Program Director, Vice President from 1979-2012, and President from 2012-2016), Katrin Adam, and Joan Forrester Sprague. Alma Felix Green was the first Executive Director in 1980 and retired as President in 2014. The WDC designs, develops, constructs, and manages sustainable housing for low and moderate income families, individuals with special needs, and elderly residents. Between 1979 and 2016, the WDC had developed over 1600 housing units.

Additional sources: http://www.wdchoc.org/about-wdc http://www.wdchoc.org/FAQ

Acquisition information:
The Women's Development Corporation Records were donated to Special Collections in 2016.
Arrangement:

This collection was arranged with respect to the original order and the Shephered/Lowell Standard Series and Subseries for Architeture and Landscape Design. The collection reflects the following series and subseries:

  • Series I: Photographs
  • Series II: Professional Papers
  • Subseries A: Correspondence related to the profession
  • Subseries B: Awards, certificates
  • Subseries C: Research Notes and Data Collection
  • Subseries D: Files, articles, clipping, materials
  • Subseries E: Women's School of Planning and Architecture
  • Series III: OFfice Records
  • Subseries A: Administrative articles, bylaws, meetings
  • Subseries B: Housing Planning Group Meetings, 1980
  • Subseries C: Public Relations Activity
  • Subseries D: Published Materials
  • Subseries E: Exercises and analysis
  • Series IV: Project Records
  • Series V: Participatory Design Workshop, 1990
  • Series VI: Aduiovisual and Electronic Media
  • Series VII: Exhibits and Artifacts

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard