Why Modernism Matters: “Accidental Archivist” Smart on LIVE

Why Modernism Matters: “Accidental Archivist” Smart on LIVE

George Smart, the founder of the online archive USModernist and keynote speaker at the online 35th Rhode Island Historic Preservation Conference in April, discussed the role of modernism in U.S. architecture — and why he works to keep examples of the style preserved.  

“My wife refers to this project as a 14-year seizure — so I’m a mere mortal like everyone else,” said Smart, who calls himself the “Accidental Archivist” for founding the nonprofit. “I just really love modernism.”

Smart defined modernism — and why he believes it needs to be saved. 

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“It really defines a style of architecture that was very forward-thinking, forward-looking — very optimistic and hopeful about the future,” said Smart. “[It] started in various places around the world in the 30s more or less, and then boomed after World War II as people were looking to rebuild and create the great future with flying cars — you know x-ray specs and all those things we saw in Comice books.”

“So I’ll share the story about moderns, and then I’ll talk about how our nonprofit grew from a really late night Google search in 2007 — to now we’re the larges nonprofit archive in the world for residential modern design,” he said of his conference keynote on Thursday April 22. 

“The reason we have all this information available primarily to keep modernist houses from being destroyed,” he said. “They really are like livable sculpture houses that are works of art.”