Call for Papers: Untold Tales: Women Pioneers in British Architectural History
The Third Mark Girouard Symposium at The Courtauld Institute, London. 14 November 2026
Convenors: Elizabeth McKellar (SAHGB), Manolo Guerci (University of Kent), Kyle Leyden (Courtauld Institute)
This third symposium in memory of Mark Girouard looks at women’s contributions to architectural history in Britain and Ireland. There have been a growing number of studies of female architects over the past twenty years but almost no accounts of female architectural historians. One exception is Dana Arnold’s edited collection Women and Architectural History: The Monstrous Regiment Then and Now (2025) which involved women operating from the 1970s onwards. This symposium looks back further to the earliest generations involved in the writing and promotion of architectural history in a wide range of spheres. We are interested in women who were involved in the subject as academics, curators, journalists, photographers, writers and in the conservation and heritage spheres from the nineteenth century onwards.
We would particularly welcome contributions on female subjects in the following areas:
Academic pioneers such as Margaret Whinney, Helen Rosenau or Katherine Esdaile
Pioneers in museums such as Marjorie Quennell, Mollie Harrison and Dorothy Stroud
Women working on publication and cataloguing projects such as Hermione Hobhouse at the Survey of London or Margaret Richardson and Jill Lever at the RIBA
Women involved in building heritage/historic preservation such as Billa Harrod, Jane Fawcett and Mariga Guiness
Journalists and photographers such as Monica Pidgeon and the photographers/researchers for the National Buildings Record such as Alison Shepherd
Please submit a 300-500 word abstract for a 20-30 minute paper, with a title, your affiliation (if any) and a short biographical summary to: Elizabeth McKellar (elizabeth.mckellar@sahgb.org.uk) by 26 June 2026.
Selected papers will be confirmed by August.
