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Dr. Bess Williamson

Historian of design and culture

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Treated myself to an obscure but crucial old book -- an illustrated code done by Ronald L Mace, disabled architect & coiner of the term Universal Design. This book, first published in 1974, is a humble seeming work of government regulation but Mace's images put visuals to the dry, text only code requirements. Virtually no design drawings of these kinds of regulations (curb cuts, accessible toilets, etc) existed at this time. Most innovatively, Mace used the star (*) to mark "preferred" approaches that went beyond the code, making clear there was always more than the basic access to design. His drawings included disabled figures and were framed with sepia toned stop-motion style images of wheelchairs, canes, crutches - bodies in motion and always present in the public environment even if not always acknowledged. #accessibility #AccessibleDesign #UniversalDesign #RonaldMace #NorthCarolina #DisabilityHistory
Wheelchairs for rent at the NY world's fair of 1939. Where there are public events, there are tired legs.
BYO cultural/disability studies reading of these wood panels that are about to be repurposed from the Japanese galleries at the museum to the new Wellness Center at the school. #recycling #MuseumsAreNotNeutral #institutions #orientalism #healthcare #wellness
Moholy-Nagy is a gift who keeps on giving. >> for "The peace machine devouring itself" and "the machine of emotional discharge." From an Institute of Design catalog late 30s I think? (Quotes and drawings from the 20s at the bauhaus tho)
Visited the historic George Cleveland Hall branch of the Chicago Public Library for the #ReelAbilities film festival. By coincidence I had just been visiting the Vivian Harsh Collection at Chicago Public Library, where I saw this (last) photo of Harsh at the opening of this library branch in 1932. Harsh was a reference librarian instrumental in building an African American literature and history program/collection in Bronzeville during the era of Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks etc. She was also the first black librarian in CPL. Design of the building is certainly not intended to be accessible in current day terms, but it has a beautiful reading garden in the front with a central path and triangular benches (no idea if that is original or not). #CPL #ChicagoHistory #BlackHistory #chicagoarchitecture #publiclibraries #libraryhistory #VivianGHarsh
The Armory show, which came to Chicago in 1913, was widely discussed as a "freak art show" & aesthetic discussion focused on what cubism does to bodies. #armoryshow #disabilityaesthetics #disabilityhistory #disabilityart
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