COOPER-HEWITT, NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM

2 East 91st Street, New York, NY 10128

Paul Warwick Thompson, Director

In October 1976, Cooper-Hewitt Museum opened to the public in the Andrew Carnegie Mansion as the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Design. The Museum was created in 1897 by Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt, granddaughters of Peter Cooper, the founder of the Cooper Union, a liberal public institution for the advancement of science and art. In 1968 the collection became part of the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1994 the name of the museum was changed to Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum. The Museum's collections place it among the foremost repositories of design and decorative arts in the world. The Museum was founded with the purpose of being thoroughly accessible for study and continues to acknowledge that tradition.

The mission of the Museum is to enrich the lives of all people by exploring the nature and impact of design. Through its activities and research the Museum stimulates creative thinking, makes information about design accessible to a broad public, provides a global forum for experimentation and discourse on design issues, serves new audiences, particularly New York City students, and inspires others to value human achievements in design.

The permanent collection contains more than 250,000 objects, representing contemporary and historical design in four curatorial departments: textiles, wallcoverings, product design and decorative arts, and drawings and prints, embracing the fields of architecture, interior design, landscape design, product design, decorative arts, and graphic design.

The textile collection includes examples from around the world dating as early as the Han Dynasty in China (206 B.C. 220 A.D.). It is particularly strong in woven silks from the 14th through 19th centuries and pre Columbian South America; printed fabrics from the 17th through 19th centuries; embroideries from the 16th through 18th centuries, including European and American samplers, men's caps and waistcoats; and laces from the 16th through 20th centuries. Contemporary textile design from the 20th and 21st centuries is also well represented.

The diverse collection of drawings, prints, and graphic design ranks as one of the world's foremost repositories of design for decorative arts, architecture, interiors, and ornament. Its strengths are: 17th through early 19th century Italian architectural and decorative drawings from the collection of Giovanni Piancastelli, curator of the Borghese Collection; 18th century French architectural and decorative designs in drawings, prints, and books from the collection of Léon Decloux, a 19th century architect and interior designer; and other European designs for architecture and the theater stage sets. Works by Carlo Marchionni, Giuseppe Barberi, Felice Giani, and John Crace and Sons, for example, are represented in depth. The Museum also boasts a major collection of 19th century American drawings by Winslow Homer, Frederic Edwin Church, Daniel Huntington, Thomas Moran, and others. 20th century strengths include posters and costume designs by E. McKnight Kauffer, designs for textiles and wallpapers from the Wiener Werkstätte, and the archives of Donald Deskey and Henry Dreyfuss, American pioneers of industrial design, and contemporary American graphic design.

The product design and decorative arts collection is international in scope and includes metalwork, ceramics, glass, furniture, jewelry, and product design of most periods and styles. Collections range from Egyptian artifacts and classical antiquities to present day industrial design and one of a kind objects. Collections with exceptional strength include ceramics from the 18th through 20th centuries, 19th- through 21st-century jewelry, product prototypes and models, metalwork in all categories, 19th- and 20th-century seating furniture, Soviet propaganda porcelains, production glass, and cutlery.

The wallcoverings collection houses the largest collection of wallpaper and wallcoverings in the country. The collection includes European and American production from the 17th through 21st century, and is particularly strong in 19th-century French block printed examples and 20th-century American production. Dutch gilded and embossed leathers, French stenciled domino papers, sample books, American bandboxes and wallpaper fragments from historic homes are all part of the collection, which also includes a large research collection of published articles and advertisements relating to wallcoverings.

Library
The reference library, known as The Doris and Henry Dreyfuss Memorial Study Center, contains more than 50,000 volumes in design and related fields, approximately 5,000 rare books, several thousand trade catalogs and over 150 subscriptions to design and architecture magazines. The study center also houses the archives of designers Henry Dreyfuss, Donald Deskey, George Nathan Horwitt, William Metzig, Donald Wallance, and Ladislav Sutnar. An African American design archive and a Latino American design archive of reference materials are in place.

Special collections include over 1,000 volumes of world’s fair materials from 1844 to the present, with strengths in the London 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition and the Chicago 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A pop up book collection of some 500 titles; and 4,300 black and white Thérèse Bonney photographs of Paris architecture and design (1925-40) are also housed in the library. The library is a critical resource for the Parsons School of Design master of arts program. Independent research projects by Smithsonian fellows and visitors are also supported by the Library.

Research Opportunities
Collection groups that merit further study are: The Strater collection of Swiss enameled glass; the archives of the lighting and metalwork firm of E. F. Caldwell; American art pottery of the late 19th and early 20th centuries; 20th century Soviet propaganda porcelains; archives of 20th-century designers such as Henry Dreyfuss, Donald Deskey and the 1980s graphic design firm M&Co.; highly specialized collections, such as over 4,000 matchsafes, locks and keys, jewelry and jewelry designs, buttons, and modern industrial design. The textile collection offers an opportunity to pursue detailed and technical research on European silk weaving centers from the 14th through 18th centuries with the goal of establishing specific places of origin and the study of the relationships, differences, and influences of Greek, Turkish and North African embroideries from the 17th through 19th centuries. Other research opportunities include Italian 18th-century architectural and 19th century stage designs; French 18th century ornament prints; 19th century French block-printed wallpaper and American 20th century machine-printed wallpaper. Contemporary design research opportunities include field research on contemporary graphic design, advertising, environmental graphics, and product design.

The Museum is dedicated to engaging the public in aspects of design through exhibitions, publications, and educational programs. Visiting scholars are encouraged to contribute to museum publications and participate in museum activities.
In conjunction with Parsons School of Design, the Museum co-sponsors a two year M.A. program in the history of European decorative arts. A satellite program based in Washington, DC focuses on American decorative arts. Please write to Dr. Maria Ann Conelli, Chair, at Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum for further information.

Research opportunities are available in the areas of collections management, management information systems related to collection inventory control, digitization, and retrieval, as well as registration functions related to temporary traveling and permanent exhibitions, textile and paper conservation, and general research for collections cataloging, exhibitions, publications, and programs.

RESEARCH STAFF

BROWN, Susan Jeanne, Assistant Curator of Textiles. B.A. (1987) Cornell University; M.A. (2001) Fashion Institute of Technology. Research specialties: technical textiles, African textiles, felt.

COFFIN, Sarah, Curator of 17th and 18th Century Decorative Arts. B.A.(1973) Yale University; M.A. (1975) Columbia University. Research specialties: 17th and 18th Century and Aesthetic Movement Furniture, Silver, and other Decorative Arts; Portrait Miniatures.

COMMONER, Lucy A., Textile Conservator. B.A. (1972) Brown University; Textile Design (1973-1974) Rhode Island School of Design. Research specialties: Textile conservation; folding fans; storage materials and systems.

DAVIDSON, Gail, Assistant Curator, Drawings and Prints and Head of Department. B.A. (1963) Barnard College; Ph.D. (1980) Harvard University. Research specialties: Twentieth-century European and American design drawings; nineteenth-century American drawings; seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and nineteenth-century French drawings and prints.

HERRINGSHAW, Gregory, Assistant Curator in charge of Wallcoverings. B.F.A (1987) Wayne State University; M.A. (1991) Fashion Institute of Technology. Research specialties: Wallcoverings, antique to contemporary, worldwide.

LUPTON, Ellen, Curator of Contemporary Design. B.F.A. (1985) Cooper Union School of Art. Research specialties: History and criticism of twentieth- and twenty-first century graphic and industrial design.

MC CARRON-CATES, Floramae, Associate Curator of Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design. B.A.(1992), M.A. (1996) University of New Mexico. Research specialties: History of Graphic Arts, printmaking and photography-emphasis on 19th and 20th century American and European prints and 17th and 18th century prints relating to decorative arts and design.

MCQUAID, Matilda, Deputy Curatorial Director. B.A. (1979) Bowdoin College; M.A. (1991) University of Virginia. Research specialties: Textiles; Contemporary design.

TROPE, Cynthia, Associate Curator of Product Design and Decorative Arts. B.A. (1980) State University of New York, College, Oneonta; M.A. (1991) Parsons School of Design/Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Research specialties: Twentieth-century design: Scandinavian design; glass; care of museum collections.

VAN DYK, Stephen H., Chief Librarian. B.A. (1972) William Paterson College; M.S.L.S. (1973) University of North Carolina; M.A. (Candidate), Rutgers University. Research specialties: Architectural history.

Introduction

Information for Applying to the Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program, including the fields of research

Fellowship and Internship Opportunities

Research Assistance Programs

Smithsonian Research Staff and Affiliated Research Staff E-Mail Directory

Office of Research Training and Services Applications

• Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program
• Smithsonian Institution Latino Studies Fellowship Program
• Smithsonian Institution Molecular Evolution Fellowship Program
• Minority Internship Program
• James E. Webb Internship Program
• Native American Awards Program