We are pleased to announce that the Mellon Foundation has awarded a $600,000 Humanities in Place grant to the University of Southern California School of Architecture to support a number of public-facing initiatives related to the Paul Revere Williams Architecture Archive.  

The initiatives will include a future exhibition on the work of Williams at the USC Fisher Museum, two faculty research fellowships, a new biennial pamphlet publication, an annual memorial lecture series, a symposium, and several community events. This multi-year grant will be led by Professors Valéry Augustin (co-PI, USC), Milton S.F. Curry (co-PI, Cornell/USC), and Dr. Amy L. Murphy (lead PI, USC). 

Paul Revere Williams, born in 1894 in Los Angeles, was one of the most prolific architects of the modern era - with a career spanning six decades. Williams studied at the University of Southern California between 1916-1919. Williams was the first Black American to be admitted to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1923. He was subsequently elected to the AIA’s College of Fellows in 1957 and posthumously won the AIA Gold Medal in 2017.  

The Getty Research Institute and the University of Southern California jointly acquired the Paul R. Williams Architecture Archive in 2020 from the Williams Estate headed by Williams’ granddaughter Karen Elyse Hudson and grandson Paul C. Hudson. Now housed at the Getty Center, the archive includes over 37,000 plans, including 10,000 drawings, blueprints, project diazotypes, hand-colored renderings, vintage photographs, written correspondence, and other ephemera and materials – comprising Williams’ entire professional career. The archive is currently being processed and is not yet open to the public.

To learn more about future programming at USC in regard to this initiative here.

For updates regarding future public access to the archive here.