Records of The Cooper Union School of Art
Scope and Contents
The Records of the Cooper Union School of Art date from the founding of The Cooper Union in 1859 through current day, spanning years when it was variously named the School of Design for Women, the Woman's Art School, and the Night Art School. This collection includes annual reports, meeting minutes, faculty lists and CVs, publications, statistics, and accreditation materials. This collection also contains documentation of student exhibitions dating back to 1978. Additional material includes records pertaining to The Cooper Union's teaching of architecture, which was part of the Art program until the School of Architecture was formed in 1975.
The materials included in this finding aid are the processed portion of a larger unprocessed collection. As materials are assessed they will be added. Please feel free to reach out to the archives if you would like to discuss the contents of the unprocessed portion of this collection.
Dates
- 1859 - 2009
Creator
- New York School of Design for Women (Organization)
- Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. School of Architecture (Organization)
- Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. . School of Art (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Open to researchers without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from The Cooper Union Archives and Special Collections. For more information, please email archives@cooper.edu.
Biographical / Historical
The Cooper Union was founded in 1859 as an arts and engineering college for the working classes. While all genders could enroll together in the engineering program, the art program was divided into the Woman's Art School (initially called the School of Design for Women), which met in the daytime, and the Night Art School, which only accepted men. This remained the model until 1934, when the Woman's Art School became the Day Art School and both programs opened up to all. In 1942 the day and night programs became collectively known as the School of Art.
The School of Art offered certificates and medals to graduates up until 1963, when they began offering BFA degrees. Some qualifying graduates thus received diplomas many years after their actual graduation date. The School of Art also offered architectural classes through 1975, when the School of Architecture was founded.
Extent
10 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Records of the Cooper Union School of Art date from the founding of The Cooper Union in 1859 through current day, and include exhibition documentation, annual reports, meeting minutes, faculty lists and CVs, publications, statistics, and accreditation materials. This collection also includes records pertaining to The Cooper Union's teaching of architecture, which was part of the Art program until the School of Architecture was formed in 1975.
Arrangement
This collection has been arranged by material type and then by date.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was partially acquired from the School of Art in accordance with the college records retention policy, and partially compiled by staff at the Cooper Union Archives. We believe that the compiled materials were either collected by or donated to the library at an earlier date.
- Drawing Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Faculty Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Schools--Records and correspondence Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Author
- Mary Mann
- Date
- September 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- March 2023: Material added, Nathan Feniak
Repository Details
Part of the The Cooper Union Archives & Special Collections Repository
Cooper Union Library
7 East 7th Street
New York New York 10003 United States
archives@cooper.edu
