Smithsonian Institution Archives

Finding Aids to Official Records of the Smithsonian Institution

Record Unit 531
Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Department of Exhibitions,
Exhibition Records, 1973-1992

Historical Note

Descriptive Entry


HISTORICAL NOTE

The Cooper-Hewitt Museum reinstated its exhibits office in fiscal year 1973 with the appointment of Dorothy Twining Globus as Exhibits Specialist. Lucy Fellowes was retained as Exhibitions Researcher in FY 1977. Globus became Exhibition Coordinator in FY 1978 and Curator of Exhibitions in FY 1987. Robin Parkinson was Exhibition Designer from FY 1978 through FY 1985, and Michael Legnasky was Designer in FY 1988, but the position has otherwise lapsed or been vacant.


DESCRIPTIVE ENTRY

These records document the conceptualization, development, design, and execution of several exhibitions held by the Cooper-Hewitt Museum from 1973 through 1992, and of exhibitions rejected or cancelled by the museum. Exhibition files include proposals; research files; correspondence with object lenders, scholars, and exhibition designers; photographs, slides, and checklists of objects; installation floor plans and blueprints, including layout drawings by Robin Parkinson; scripts and label copy; publicity materials; press reviews; funding and budget records; catalogue publication notes; and bibliographies. In addition, the records contain slides that were shown in some exhibitions.

Box 1 of 32

Box 2 of 32

Early Files, 1973-1977

Box 3 of 32

Exhibition Files, 1976-1992

Box 4 of 32

Box 5 of 32

Box 6 of 32

Box 7 of 32

Box 8 of 32

Box 9 of 32

Box 10 of 32

Box 11 of 32

Box 12 of 32

Box 13 of 32

Box 14 of 32

Now I Lay Me Down to Eat (1980-81) (Bernard Rudofsky, Curator)

Box 15 of 32

Now I Lay Me Down to Eat, continued

Box 16 of 32

Writing and Reading (1981-1982)

Box 17 of 32

Writing and Reading, continued

Box 18 of 32

American Picture Palaces (1982-1983)

Arches for Galveston (1987-1988)

A Penny Saved: Architecture in Cast-Iron Toy Banks (1983)

Canes and Walking Sticks (1983)

The Column: Structure and Ornament (1982)

Ephemeral Images: Recent American Posters (1981)

Box 19 of 32

American Enterprise: Nineteenth-Century Patent Models (1984)

Box 20 of 32

Advertising America (1985-1986)

The Amsterdam School: Dutch Expressionist Architecture, 1915-1930 (1983-1984)

Box 21 of 32

Embellished Calendars: An Illustrated History (1984-1985)

What Could Have Been: Unbuilt Architecture of the 80s (1988)

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School (1983-1984)

Box 22 of 32

Carnegie's Libraries: A Sesquicentennial Celebration (1985)

Box 23 of 32

Carnegie's Libraries, continued

Box 24 of 32

Playing Cards (1986)

Box 25 of 32

Milestones: 50 Years of Goods and Services (1986-1987)

Box 26 of 32

Milestones, continued

Box 27 of 32

Berlin 1900-1933: Architecture and Design (1986-1987)

The Catalan Spirit: Gaudi and His Contemporaries (1987)

Box 28 of 32

Death (never realized project - 1988)

Box 29 of 32

Golden Eye (1985-1986)

Box 30 of 32

Golden Eye, continued

A Design Resource (1991-1992)

Costume Jewelry (never realized project - 1992)

Box 31 of 32

Doghouse (1990)

Costume Jewelry (never realized project - 1992)

Box 32 of 32

Calder (1989-1990)


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Revised: August 1, 2002