Published Writings

We do not have the advantage of reading Minerva’s thoughts in journals or diaries. Instead, her published essays and talks offer the primary evidence of her perspective on architecture, women’s rights, and other topics of the day. In particular, her 1891/92 series for The Home-Maker magazine presents the most cohesive opportunity for her to talk about her work and design approach; in those five essays, she outlines her general approach to residential design, using her own projects as examples. Many of her essays were published in magazines with audiences of women in mind.

“It is time to put aside prejudice and sentimentalism, and judge women’s work by their ability.”

— “A Woman on the Woman’s Building,” The American Architect and Building News, December 10, 1892

"Letter to the Editor" | Philadelphia Real Estate Record + Builders Guide | December 19, 1887

"Architecture as an Art" | The Woman's Journal | November 16, 1889

"Practical Dwellings" | The Home-Maker | January 1891

"Practical Homes" | The Home-Maker | April 1891

“Women often seem so helpless when they come to design their own houses…I assure you, French novels will seem dull compared with the delight of threading your way through the translation of plans.”

— “An Uncultivated Field,” Housekeeper’s Weekly, June 1893

"Practical Homes" | The Home-Maker | September 1891

"The Popular Ignorance of Fine Architectural Effects" | The Business Woman's Journal | October 1891

"Practical Homes" | The Home-Maker | December 1891

"A Woman on the Woman's Building" | The American Architect and Building News | December 10, 1892

"Practical Homes" | The Home-Maker | May 1892

"Architecture, Architect, and Client" | Woman's Progress | May 1893

"An Uncultivated Field" | Housekeeper's Weekly | June 1893

"Houses for Workingmen" | Carpentry and Building | September 1893

“Don’t build a house to look at; let every room be designed for some purpose, and see that it is used for that alone.

Don’t be afraid of light and air, they are the things that do most to beautify our homes.”

— “Practical Homes,” The Home-Maker, April 1891

"Art in Architecture" | The Philadelphia Times | November 19, 1893

"An Architectural Object Lesson" | Architecture and Building | December 30, 1893

"Women as Architects" | Third Biennial, General Federation of Women's Clubs | 1896

"Women in Architecture" | The Woman's Journal | January 5, 1901

[Remarks on Social Co-Operation] | Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction | 1904

"The Baddest Day" and Other Favorite Stories | Unpublished | 1944