Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434) 560 Drillfield Drive Newman Library, Virginia Tech Blacksburg, Virginia 24061 Business Number: 540-231-6308 specref@vt.edu URL: http://spec.lib.vt.edu
Emily Cook, Student Assistant
Repository
Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Identification
Ms.2007.009
Title
E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection 1940-2010
Quantity
3.6 Cubic Feet, 3 boxes
Creator
Roth, Maria
Language
The materials in the collection are in English.
Abstract
The E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection contains the personal papers, professional papers, and project files of a landscape
architect working largely in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. School work from Cooper Union and Rutgers University is included,
along with a school notebook from 1940 made during the Hitler era in Germany. Projects largely conform to the following categories:
schools, residences/neighborhoods, public and recreation areas, and furniture/structural designs.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University
Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization
form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition
form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with
forms or to submit a completed form.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder],
E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection, Ms2007-009, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg,
Va.
Source of Acquisition
The E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection was donated to Special Collections in 2006 and 2010.
Processing Information
The processing, arrangement, and description of the E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection occurred in 2007. An addition was
processed and integrated from June to July 2010.
E. Maria Roth lived in Germany throughout World War II and later immigrated to the United States at age fifteen. She attended
Bulkeley High School in Hartford, CT, and became a United States citizen. After receiving a Certificate of Completion from
the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York City in 1956, Roth designed for Robert P. Moran Architects and Engineers
in East Orange, New Jersey, until 1958.
From 1974 to 1976, Roth served as a substitute teacher while rewriting and updating the landscape portion of Hopewell Township,
New Jersey's city ordinances; performing technical translation of German; and providing civil engineering and architectural
work in New Jersey firms. Also in 1976, Roth earned a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Rutgers University.
From 1976 to 1978, Roth worked for Van Note-Harvey Associates in Princeton, New Jersey, and Parsons Brinckerhoff in New York.
During the late 1970s to the mid nineties, she worked for the state of New Jersey in several departments: the Department of
Transportation as an Assistant Landscape Architect, Transportation Planner, and Assistant Architect; the Department of Human
Servicers as Senior Architectural Assistant; and the Department of Community Affairs as Construction Code Specialist.
Roth returned to a private architecture firm as a Marketing Associate, Morgan Architecture Inc, in Lawrenceville, NJ, from
1996 to 1997. In 2000, she received a Master of Science from Virginia Tech's department of Landscape Architecture. Roth continued
her relation with Virginia Tech as a part time instructor of German in 2005.
The E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection contains the personal, professional, and project records of an architect working
primarily in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Documents date from the mid to late twentieth century to the early twenty-first
century.
Roth's personal papers include artwork, educational documents, newspaper articles, various notes and sketches, and a resume
of her work. The artwork within Roth's personal papers includes intricate paper cut-outs, prints done in linoleum paint, hand-painted
cards, and several examples of calligraphy.
The included educational papers extend from Roth's early grammar school days through high school, to her time at Columbia
University, Cooper Union, Rutgers University, and finally Virginia Tech. Particularly significant is Roth's grammar school
notebook created during the Hitler era in Germany. This social studies/geography notebook, from 1940, mentions Hitler's fifty-first
birthday as well as other contemporary political events.
Roth's professional papers include competition information, an application to a professional organization, newspapers from
her time as editor of the "New River Free Press," logos Roth designed, and documents from her time at the New Jersey Department
of Transportation.
The collection is arranged in the following series: I: Personal Papers 1940-2010, n.d.; II: Professional Papers 1956-2006,
n.d.; and III: Projects 1973-2005, n.d. Within these series, folders appear in alphabetical order.
Artwork/Calligraphy, Bulkeley High School, Hartford, CT
n.d.
box-folder 1 folder: 3
Calligraphy, Department of Transportation
1977
box-folder 1 folder: 4
Calligraphy, "Freedom to Read"
1953
box-folder 1 folder: 5
Calligraphy, German Language from Goethe's Faust
n.d.
box-folder 1 folder: 6
Citizen Activism, Blacksburg, VA
2000, 2010
Scope and Contents note
Pieces written as a citizen activist in Blacksburg.
oversize folder: 1
Columbia University School of Engineering
1953
box-folder 2 folder: 1
Cooper Union Architectural Design, "Construction"
n.d.
box-folder 2 folder: 2
Cooper Union Architectural Design I, "Garden Apartment"
1955
box-folder 2 folder: 3 oversize folder: 2
Cooper Union, "Chelsea Redevelopment"
May 1956, n.d.
box-folder 1 folder: 7
Cooper Union Class Notes, History of Architecture
n.d. (c.1954)
box-folder 2 folder: 4
Cooper Union Life Drawing Sketch Book
1955
box-folder 1 folder: 8
Cooper Union Sketches of Professors
n.d.
box-folder 1 folder: 9
Grammar School Notebook
Spring 1940
Scope and Contents note
Created during the Hitler era in Germany.
box-folder 1 folder: 10
"The New Yorker" Letter
n.d.
box-folder 1 folder: 11
Notes and Sketches
1998-2000, n.d.
box-folder 1 folder: 12
Ocean Currents and Pollution Patterns Map
n.d.
Scope and Contents note
Map drawn by Roth based on National Geographic Magazine.
box-folder 1 folder: 13
Personal Photos
n.d.
box-folder 1 folder: 14
Press Coverage
1975-1976, n.d.
Scope and Contents note
Articles cover Medford Circle Project, Pennington Park Project, and Toll Gate School Project. Folder also includes an article
profiling Roth as an eighteen year old award winning student. Additional photographs included.