Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: "More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts: An Exhibit by CARY, 1992-1993" - Ms1994-023 - Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The "More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts: An Exhibit by CARY, 1992-1993" collection was donated to Special Collections in August 1994.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement, and description of the "More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts: An Exhibit by CARY, 1992-1993" commenced and was completed in August 1994.

Biographical Information

CARY, Chicks in Architecture Refuse to Yield (to Atavistic Thinking in Design and Society), was founded in 1992 as an offshoot of Chicago Women in Architecture by Chicago architects Carol Crandall, Kay Janis, and Sally Levine. The group originally formed as a Chicago-based collective whose goals are to focus attention on the status-quo of women and the position of women in the field of architecture.

The group designed and produced an exhibit called "More Than the Sum of Our Body Parts" that was shown at the Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago from June 16 to July 2, 1993. The purpose of the exhibit was to illustrate the many ways that women architects are discriminated against in the workplace by their male colleagues. The exhibit was comprised of sculptural and multimedia installations, focusing on such topics as the sexual discrimination and harassment of women architects, and the glass ceiling said to be limiting the advance of women in architecture.

Scope and Content

The collection is composed almost exclusively of materials created for the exhibit or in preparation of the exhibit. It consists of vignette sketches, drawings and floorplans of the exhibit layout, directory of members list, press releases, announcements and newsletters, copies of articles advertising the exhibit, slides used in the exhibit and of the exhibit, a videotape of the exhibit set-up and opening reception, letters, meeting minutes, mounted boards with dates and facts, an audiocassette, exhibit catalogs, a frieze of a series of caryatids (architectural columns in the shape of a woman) imposed with the faces of CARY members, and a large cut-out of the body of a caryatid.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged by subject.

Index Terms

Subjects:

• History of Women in Architecture
• International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA)
• Women -- History