Female Design and Architectural Archives in Italy: a Preliminary Investigation among Online Search Tools

The value of projects archives is nowadays unanimously acknowledged, but the path that led to this recognition was rather long: in Italy its origin goes back to the 1970s. Even though the interest in architectural archives was born at the same time of the first considerations for women’s history, the achievement of both fields of research went through parallel but not interrelated paths, at least until very recent times. These days, we can indeed observe an increasing attention for the feminine planning component that is beginning to show through also in the world of archive sources and their divulgation. Starting from an interest tout court dedicated to designers’ archives, the Archives General Direction of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (MiBACT) has since the end of the Nineties promoted its census, to which, in 2001, followed a national protection program for the 1900 architectural documentary heritage, in accordance with the General Direction for Architecture and Contemporary Arts.