A Lab Of One's Own

This virtual installation is the result of our engagement with materials from the MIT Libraries’ Department of Distinctive Collections through the Women@MIT Spring 2021 Fellowship. Our goal was to bring into conversation a selection of materials from these archives through an accessible and engaging virtual space. 

The materials from the Women@MIT archival initiative tell stories of women who’ve been first in graduating from academic institutions, publishing ground-breaking papers, and getting together at first-of-its-kind conferences. They also offer glimpses into the history that happened just as much in community meetings, quiet lab hours, and the home. The lives of the women represented by this archival initiative go far beyond MIT, and the obstacles they encountered here were not exclusive to the academy but a reflection of broader systems of oppression still to be dismantled. 

Memoirs and oral histories along with minutes, newspaper clippings, and event ephemera attest to the difficulties women encountered while pursuing careers in male-dominated fields, within a male-dominated world, and to the resilience and resistance thanks to which they thrived regardless.