In December of 2017, the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation launched a website dedicated to women who have made significant contributions to American architecture. Titled Pioneering Women of American Architecture, the website profiles 50 women as a starting point, with more to be added in the future.
Three former SOM architects—Natalie Griffin de Blois, Norma Merrick Sklarek, and Patricia Weston Swan—are featured on the website. Like the other women profiled, de Blois, Sklarek, and Swan were born before 1940 and practiced in an era when opportunities were systemically limited and successes routinely went unrecognized.
In introducing the goals of the website and initiative, co-directors Mary McLeod and Victoria Rosner write, “Going forward, we hope this project can move architecture created by women to the center of architectural history and invite more young women to study and practice architecture.”