Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech
Special Collections and University Archives, University Libraries (0434)560 Drillfield Drive
Newman Library, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia 24061
Business Number: 540-231-6308
specref@vt.edu
URL: http://spec.lib.vt.edu
Emily Cook, Student Assistant
Administrative Information
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction . Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication . Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Existence and Location of Copies
The collection has been digitized and is available online.
Preferred Citation
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection, Ms2007-009, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
Source of Acquisition
The E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection was donated to Special Collections in 2006 and 2010.
Processing Information
The processing, arrangement, and description of the E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection occurred in 2007. An addition was processed and integrated from June to July 2010.
Biographical Note
E. Maria Roth lived in Germany throughout World War II and later immigrated to the United States at age fifteen. She attended Bulkeley High School in Hartford, CT, and became a United States citizen. After receiving a Certificate of Completion from the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York City in 1956, Roth designed for Robert P. Moran Architects and Engineers in East Orange, New Jersey, until 1958.
From 1974 to 1976, Roth served as a substitute teacher while rewriting and updating the landscape portion of Hopewell Township, New Jersey's city ordinances; performing technical translation of German; and providing civil engineering and architectural work in New Jersey firms. Also in 1976, Roth earned a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from Rutgers University. From 1976 to 1978, Roth worked for Van Note-Harvey Associates in Princeton, New Jersey, and Parsons Brinckerhoff in New York.
During the late 1970s to the mid nineties, she worked for the state of New Jersey in several departments: the Department of Transportation as an Assistant Landscape Architect, Transportation Planner, and Assistant Architect; the Department of Human Servicers as Senior Architectural Assistant; and the Department of Community Affairs as Construction Code Specialist.
Roth returned to a private architecture firm as a Marketing Associate, Morgan Architecture Inc, in Lawrenceville, NJ, from 1996 to 1997. In 2000, she received a Master of Science from Virginia Tech's department of Landscape Architecture. Roth continued her relation with Virginia Tech as a part time instructor of German in 2005.
Scope and Content
The E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection contains the personal, professional, and project records of an architect working primarily in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Documents date from the mid to late twentieth century to the early twenty-first century.
Roth's personal papers include artwork, educational documents, newspaper articles, various notes and sketches, and a resume of her work. The artwork within Roth's personal papers includes intricate paper cut-outs, prints done in linoleum paint, hand-painted cards, and several examples of calligraphy.
The included educational papers extend from Roth's early grammar school days through high school, to her time at Columbia University, Cooper Union, Rutgers University, and finally Virginia Tech. Particularly significant is Roth's grammar school notebook created during the Hitler era in Germany. This social studies/geography notebook, from 1940, mentions Hitler's fifty-first birthday as well as other contemporary political events.
Roth's professional papers include competition information, an application to a professional organization, newspapers from her time as editor of the "New River Free Press," logos Roth designed, and documents from her time at the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in the following series: I: Personal Papers 1940-2010, n.d.; II: Professional Papers 1956-2006, n.d.; and III: Projects 1973-2005, n.d. Within these series, folders appear in alphabetical order.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- History of Women in Architecture
- International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA)
- Women -- History
- Women architects -- New Jersey
- Women architects -- New York
- Women architects -- Virginia
Rights Statement for Archival Description
The guide to the E. Maria Roth Architectural Collection by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 ( https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ ).
Container List
- box-folder 1 folder: 1
Artworkn.d. (c.1949-1952)
- oversize folder: 5
Artworkn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 2
Artwork/Calligraphy, Bulkeley High School, Hartford, CTn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 3
Calligraphy, Department of Transportation1977
- box-folder 1 folder: 4
Calligraphy, "Freedom to Read"1953
- box-folder 1 folder: 5
Calligraphy, German Language from Goethe's Faustn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 6
Citizen Activism, Blacksburg, VA2000, 2010Scope and Contents note
Pieces written as a citizen activist in Blacksburg.
- oversize folder: 1
Columbia University School of Engineering1953
- box-folder 2 folder: 1
Cooper Union Architectural Design, "Construction"n.d.
- box-folder 2 folder: 2
Cooper Union Architectural Design I, "Garden Apartment"1955
- box-folder 2 folder: 3 oversize folder: 2
Cooper Union, "Chelsea Redevelopment"May 1956, n.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 7
Cooper Union Class Notes, History of Architecturen.d. (c.1954)
- box-folder 2 folder: 4
Cooper Union Life Drawing Sketch Book1955
- box-folder 1 folder: 8
Cooper Union Sketches of Professorsn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 9
Grammar School NotebookSpring 1940Scope and Contents note
Created during the Hitler era in Germany.
- box-folder 1 folder: 10
"The New Yorker" Lettern.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 11
Notes and Sketches1998-2000, n.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 12
Ocean Currents and Pollution Patterns Mapn.d.Scope and Contents note
Map drawn by Roth based on National Geographic Magazine.
- box-folder 1 folder: 13
Personal Photosn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 14
Press Coverage1975-1976, n.d.Scope and Contents note
Articles cover Medford Circle Project, Pennington Park Project, and Toll Gate School Project. Folder also includes an article profiling Roth as an eighteen year old award winning student. Additional photographs included.
- box-folder 1 folder: 15
Plant Drawingsn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 16
Resume2005
- oversize folder: 10
Rutgers University, Cook College, Advanced Landscape Architecture, "Town Green"January 1977
- box-folder 1 folder: 17
Rutgers University, Cook College, Intermediate Landscape Architecture, "The Hunt Club"1975
- oversize folder: 11 oversize folder: 15
Rutgers University, Cook College, Intermediate Landscape Architecture, "Haddonfield Commons," "Married Student Housing," "Elementary School, K. Play Area"1975
- box-folder 1 folder: 18 oversize folder: 12
Rutgers University, Cook College, Landscape Architecture Materials and Structures1975
- oversize folder: 16
Virginia Tech, Urban Designc.1999Scope and Content
Includes drawings that redesign Blacksburg and other locations.
- box-folder 1 folder: 19
A. S. L. A. Applicationn.d.
- oversize folder: 7
Competitions1956, n.d.Scope and Content
Includes Drawings for the "1956 Marble Industry of New York Competition" and the "Parcel Enamel Design Competition."
- box-folder 1 folder: 20
Gloucester Board of Transportation Memo, NJ1981
- box-folder 1 folder: 21
Logos Designed by Roth1974, n.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 22
New River Free Press1998, 2002, 2006
- box-folder 1 folder: 23
New Jersey Uniform Construction Code News1995
- box-folder 1 folder: 24
Open Space Advisory Board, Trenton, NJ1987-1988
- box-folder 1 folder: 25
Principles of Successful Code Officials1995
- oversize folder: 3
Untitled Sketchn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 26
Blacksburg Baptist Church Expansion, Blacksburg, VA2001
- box-folder 1 folder: 27 oversize folder: 18
Christiansburg Public Library Reading Garden, Christiansburg, VA2004-2005
- oversize folder: 14
Churchill Junior High School, "Planting Design," East Brunswick, NJ1975
- oversize folder: 13
Dublin Parkn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 28
Eggerts Crossing Village, Lawrenceville, NJ1981
- box-folder 1 folder: 29
First Presbyterian Church, Pennington, NJJune 5, 1975
- box-folder 1 folder: 30
Garden Shed [for Roth Home], Blacksburg, VA1999
- box-folder 1 folder: 31
Hopewell Valley Housing Coalition, Pennington, NJ1975
- oversize folder: 4
Lincoln Property Company, Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Plan, Plainsboro Township, NJ1974
- box-folder 1 folder: 32
Lower Township, NJ, Schematicsn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 33
Marcus, Elizabeth, Residence, Hopewell, NJn.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 34 oversize folder: 8
Medford Circle [Department of Transportation], Medford, NJ1979, n.d.
- oversize folder: 16
Outdoor Nature Education Area, Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, Pennington, NJ1977
- oversize folder: 9
Pennington, NJ, Park1975-1976Scope and Contents note
See also "Press Coverage."
- oversize folder: 17
Private Golf Course, Montgomery Township1973
- oversize folder: 14
Raritan Valley Community Development Foundation, New Brunswick, NJ1977
- box-folder 1 folder: 35
Roth Residence, Pennington, NJ1979
- box-folder 1 folder: 36
Roth Table/Furniture1977, n.d.
- box-folder 1 folder: 37
Shack, Mrs. R., Planting Design, Pennington, NJApril 2003