Featured Publications

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Publications

White Paper

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Design and Social Impact: A cross-sectoral agenda for design education, research and practice chronicles the 2012 Social Impact Design Summit which brought together a diverse group of leading practitioners and educators explored the gaps, challenges, strategies to advance the burgeoning field of socially responsible design. Organized by Cooper-Hewitt, The Lemelson Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from the Surdna Foundation, the day-long event was held at The Rockefeller Foundation offices in New York.

  • Rediscovering Asian American and Pacific Islander Architects and…

    This report, commissioned with support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool,…

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DesignFile: Cooper Hewitt’s ebook series

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DesignFile is a line of ebooks on design writing and research accessible through any e-book reader for just US$2.99. New titles are added to the series throughout the year.

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  • Enwheeled: History, Design, and the Wheelchairby Penny Wolfson

    In so many ways humans and chairs are bound. Enwheeled traces the…

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  • Widows Unveiled: Fashionable Mourning in Late Victorian New…by Rebecca McNamara

    Somber black crepe gowns, long black veils, a strand of Whitby jet…

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  • Design for Repairby Derrick Mead

    Design for Repair investigates the historical and current state of repair in…

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  • Design Cultby Steven Heller

    An entertaining new collection of ruminations on the nature and future of…

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  • The Miser’s Purseby Laura Camerlengo

    The story of how a small, decorative purse became deeply embedded in…

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  • Cover of Hacking Design ebook, yellow background with plain typography.

    Hacking Designby Avinash Rajagopal

    Examining common histories and persisting misunderstandings between hackers and designers, from Makerbot…

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View all DesignFile: Cooper Hewitt’s ebook series publications

Books

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Browse titles available for purchase at The Shop Online. Museum members receive 10% off all Shop purchases. Become a member and save today!

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  • Making Home: Belonging, Memory, and Utopia in the…

    Accompanying the seventh offering in Cooper Hewitt's Design Triennial series.

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  • An Atlas of Es Devlin

    The first monograph on artist Es Devlin’s genre-defying practice

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  • A dark green book cover. At the top in bright green, all capital letters is the title "A Dark, A Light, a Bright" stacked asymmetrically. At the bottom is the subtitle "The designs of Dorothy Liebes"; this text is left justified and inset with a black-and-white photograph of hands at a loom.

    A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs…

    Cooper Hewitt's monograph on celebrated American modernist Dorothy Liebes

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  • Designing Peace: Building a Better Future Nowby Cynthia E. Smith

    An intersectional exploration of design for peace

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  • The Architecture of Health: Hospital Design and the…by Michael Murphy with Jeffrey Mansfield and MASS Design Group

    The Architecture of Health is a story about the design and life…

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  • Book cover with the title "Herbert Bayer: Inspiration and Process in Design". The top half of the cover is a color block of orange-red with white lettering over it. The bottom half is a black-and-white image of a folded sheet of paper that reads "bauhaus". Superimposed on this image are a pencil, blocks, a sphere, and a large triangular shape.

    Herbert Bayer: Inspiration and Process in Design

    This book, written by Ellen Lupton, explores the evolution of Herbert Bayer's…

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  • A vertical book cover. The title "E. McKnight Kauffer: The Artist in Advertising" appears at the top in a san serif font in red and teal. The background of the cover is a detail from a larger image. The part shown is a yellow and brown arch over fields of beige, brown, and teal. A man on a motorcycle, rendered if grayscale, appears at the lower right, positioned as if he is riding on the arch.

    E. McKnight Kauffer: The Artist in Advertising

    Cooper Hewitt's groundbreaking monograph on the work of graphic artist E. McKnight…

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  • Health Design Thinking: Creating Products and Services for…

    As health care systems around the globe struggle to expand access, improve…

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  • Rectangular book cover featuring a photograph of three fashion models. The two on the right wear oversized garments and headpieces with dramatic makeup while the model on the left wears graphic black-and-white fabric and sunglasses. Overlaid in white is the text Willi Smith: Street Couture.

    Willi Smith: Street Couture

    Fashion designer Willi Smith, pioneer of streetwear and visionary collaborator, finally gets…

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  • Digital rendering of a vertical book cover. The title, in large, black letters, that spans four lines reads "Nature: Collaborations in Design". The words are a blend of a serif and a san serif typeface. The background is white. Within the text of the title, two amoeba-like shapes overlap. One of these shapes is a blurry blend of red, orange, and blue. At the bottom of the cover reads "Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial / co-organized with Cube design museum".

    Nature: Collaborations in Design

    With design, we have the ability to become active agents in our…

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Books

Collection Exhibition Brochures

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Brochures, distributed in Cooper Hewitt's galleries, are frequently published in conjunction with permanent collection exhibitions, including the “Collection Selects” series in which designers, artists, architects, and public figures are invited to examine and interpret the museum’s collection of more than 210,000 objects.

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  • The cover of an exhibition brochure, oriented vertically. In large green letters reads "Wyss Institute Selects". Below this is an illustration of a snail shell with a green submarine emerging from its open end. The word "hydrodynamics" appears below this. The background is a gradient of beige to green, from left to right. Along the left edge is a band of green. In this band reads, in white, "Works from the Permanent Collection" and "July 12, 2019–March 8, 2020".

    Wyss Institute Selects

    Exploring the theme of Biofuturism in design, Wyss Institute Selects  was on…

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  • Rebeca Méndez Selects

    Rebeca Méndez Selects was on display October 5, 2018–June 16, 2019. Download…

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  • Image is of a cover of a brochure. Set against a black background, a staircase model is the central image. The model is made of a shiny brown wood. It is a double staircase model joining at the top and base with an opening at the center. At the top of the image, words read: "Made to Scale / Staircase Masterpieces"; and at the bottom: "The Eugene & Clare Thaw Gift".

    Made to Scale: Staircase Masterpiecesby Sarah D. Coffin and Eugene V. Thaw

    For over thirty years, Eugene and Clare Thaw collected superb examples of…

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  • Moustiers Ceramics: Gifts from the Eugene V. and…

    How did the small village of Moustiers Sainte-Marie, dramatically perched on the…

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  • Bob Greenberg Selects

    Bob Greenberg Selects was on display February 23–September 9, 2018. Download the…

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  • Vertical rectangle. Cover of a brochure. Title read "Esperanza Spalding Selects D+Evolution" is white letters. A yellow bar are the left side contains white text that reads "Works from the Permanent Collection" and "June 9, 2017–January 7, 2018". The background image is a collage of two images; one is of a red fan against an orange background with radiating black lines; the other is abstract tones of gray and beige.

    Esperanza Spalding Selects: D+Evolution

    Esperanza Spalding Selects: D+Evolution was on display June 9, 2017–January 7, 2018.…

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  • Sarah & Eleanor: The Hewitt Sisters, Founders of…by Margery F. Masinter

    In 1897, two extraordinary young women opened to the world the result…

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  • Thom Browne Selects

    Thom Browne Selects was on display March 4–October 23, 2016. Download the…

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  • David Adjaye Selects

    David Adjaye Selects was on display June 19, 2015–February 7, 2016. Download…

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Collection Exhibition Brochures

Design Journal

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  • A vertical magazine cover with the words "Design Journal" in light blue stacked in the upper right corner. Superimposed diagonally on the cover's green background is a poster. The poster pictures an illustration of a blue room with Earth floating in it. Above this illustration are the words "Give Earth a Chance."

    Design Journal Summer 2020

    Download this issue for free! It includes: Climate and science writer Tatiana…

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  • Cover of an issue of "Design Journal". Two robotic ants gather around a blue object against a gray background. At the upper right, the words "Design Journal" appear in purple.

    Design Journal Summer 2019

    Download this issue for free! It includes research from the Smithsonian Tropical…

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  • Design Journal Winter 2018: Mobility

    Download this issue for free! It includes expert takes on the future…

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  • Design Journal Summer 2018

    Download this issue for free! It includes conservation of Cooper Hewitt’s historical…

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  • Design Journal Winter 2017

    Download this issue for free! It includes August de los Reyes, Jeffrey…

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  • Cover of "Design Journal" magazine featuring white text overlaying a green wallpaper inset with white lines.

    Design Journal Spring/Summer 2017: Optimism

    Download this issue for free! It includes an exploration of Alice Waters…

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  • Design Journal Winter 2016

    Download this issue for free! It includes FABSCRAP founder Jessica Schreiber’s approach…

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  • Design Journal Spring 2016

    Download this issue for free! It includes a tribute to design writer…

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  • "Design Journal" cover featuring monochromatic, textural surface and the word "Beauty" repeated three times in distorted fashions.

    Design Journal Fall 2015

    Download this issue for free! Includes an article on the nation-wide expansion…

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  • Design Journal Spring 2015

    Download this issue for free!

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Design Journal

Education Kit

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  • Accessible Virtual Programming Toolkit

    This toolkit for museum professionals provides step-by-step guidance on how to develop…

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  • Designing for Change Toolkit

    This toolkit takes you step by step in demonstrating how the design…

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  • Design Around Town: An Activity Book

    Follow Sofia as she experiences design around town!

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  • A book cover with a collage of shapes in blue, yellow, pink, and green. A central white outline with five sides in the shape of a house contains the book's title "Design at Home Activity Book."

    Design at Home

    In Design at Home, you’ll get hands-on experience in thinking like a…

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Education Kit

Historical Publications Online

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Available in full online, these publications from 1897-1987 are focused on the museum's vast collection.

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  • blue translucent shapes and a silhouette of a hand on a black background

    Studios & workshops today

    An illustrated directory of ceramics and textile artists in the New York…

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  • stylized depiction, blocky and simplified forms, of a pile of orange textiles with a large sword and other objects resting on top. japanese characters, hand written and cascading vertically, in the white space above the image.

    Japanese woodblock prints

    Woodblock printing, an ancient craft, rose to its greatest heights in Japan…

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  • a line drawing, very ornate with leaves and flowers, showing highly flourished letters A, B, and C being painted by large figures in the scene.

    Recueil d’alphabets : dédié aux artistes

    A collection of several hand-drawn alphabets, recreated one per page.

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  • drawings of five old-fashioned looking white people in different fancy garments

    Fashion plates in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt…

    In the days before photographs, detailed fashion illustrations were used to portray…

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  • Half of a fan shown, as if peeking out from the left edge of the page. the top is a realistically painted scene on paper, the bottom is ornately carved, even lacelike white support sticks holding the paper.

    Folding fans in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt…

    In its early history as a costume accessory in the East and…

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  • what appears to be an urn with a lid, made of silver and totally covered in molded imagery--imagery of plants, shells, people and animals all swirling around the exterior of the urn

    Silver in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

    Designers and craftsmen in the precious metals have traditionally held a distinguished…

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  • a sketch in golds and browns depicting two very grandiose building exteriors with domes, steeples and columns.

    Theater designs in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt…

    While video technology allows us to document theater more easily today, the…

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  • A black glossy ceramic plate against a black background, with swirling blue vines and white and orange flowers.

    Pottery in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

    Nearly all cultures from prehistoric times to the present have produced some…

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  • A dome shaped cap with cute rainbows and clouds embroidered on it. It looks old, as it is faded.

    Western European embroidery in the collection of the…

    A sampling of the many hundreds of embroidered items in the Cooper…

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  • Four silhouettes of a fancy carved chair, arranged diagonally across the page as if sneaking closer

    Furniture in the collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

    The history of furniture is a record of the continuity of design…

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Historical Publications Online