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Paper Engineering: Fold, Pull, Pop & Turn

June 14, 2010 - September 5, 2011

Museum: American History Museum

Sponsor: Smithsonian Institution Libraries

Location: SI Libraries Gallery, 1st Floor, West Wing

This exhibition on innovative book design highlights movable, pop-up, folding, and multiple-construction books from the year 1570 to the present day. Although today pop-up books are often found in the children's book section, the earliest movable books were tools to educate and document information, such as a calendar, the moon's movements, or the inner workings of the human heart. The show features more than 50 works arranged by construction type in four areas:

• movables (primarily books that have movable parts that do not emerge from the surface of the page)
• pop-ups (book that in variant ways do emerge from the page)
• folding books (accordion forms)
• fantastic forms (that use multiple constructions)

The exhibition also features two interactive videos (run continuously) and a cell phone audio tour.

Online Exhibition