Paul R. Williams — The Archive Year

Four institutions, one man, one calendar. USC Fisher opens Aug 18, the Memphis museum that has carried the Paul Revere Williams Project since 2006 reprises its show Aug 29, LACMA follows Nov 15, and the Getty puts the archive itself on public view Dec 15. Williams: first Black architect licensed west of the Mississippi, first Black AIA member, more than 3,000 projects across six decades — the Beverly Hills Hotel and the US Navy on one side, First AME, Second Baptist and Golden State Mutual Life on the other. The archive was bought by Getty and USC in 2020; it took six years and a Mellon grant to become a room you can walk into. Not a find. The room is right, and it took the room a century.