October 19, 2002 – August 17, 2003

If you have a workbench in the basement stocked with power tools and instruction manuals, and fearlessly take on home-improvement projects, you may be a do-it-yourselfer. And you aren’t alone. Do It Yourself: Home Improvement in 20th-Century America traced the do-it-yourself craze back to its 19th-century origins, and examined the historical, social, and cultural contexts that made it possible. Do-it-yourself became a widespread cultural phenomenon in the 1950s and 1960s and is now enjoying unparalleled growth. With plywood flooring and exposed trusses, the exhibition itself evoked a house under construction. A “before” and “after” bathroom, a brick backyard barbecue pit, and a “dream” garage workshop were all part of the exhibition, together with vintage tools, advertisements, how-to manuals, and video components. A walk through the exhibition made many a homeowner start itching to get to work!

In advance of this exhibition, the National Building Museum and Princeton Architectural Press published Do It Yourself: Home Improvement in 20th-Century America (1998).