About the Library
The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Library, called The Doris and Henry
Dreyfuss Study Center, is one of 20 branches of the Smithsonian Institution
Libraries. Located on the third floor of the Museum, it serves the Smithsonian
community and other researchers in the fields of decorative arts and design.
The Library also provides research support for students enrolled in the Parson's
School of Design, History of Decorative Arts, M.A. program.
 The Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, the successor to the Cooper Union
Museum for the Arts of Decoration, was founded in 1897 by Sarah and Eleanor
Hewitt, granddaughters of the industrialist and inventor Peter Cooper. The Hewitt
sisters intended the Museum and its Library to serve as a teaching resource
for design students attending The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science
and Art, the tuition-free institution founded by their grandfather in 1857.
The Museum collections and Library remained at the Cooper Union in lower Manhattan
until 1967 when they were transferred to the care of the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1976, the Museum and Library moved uptown to the landmark Andrew Carnegie
Mansion on New York City's historic Museum Mile. The Library continues to explore
through its collections, exhibitions, and public programs how design affects
every aspect of daily life.
 The Library’s collection today, consisting of 70,000 volumes, contains books,
serials, trade catalogs, auction catalogs, microforms, thesis, picture files
and archives in areas of design and decorative arts primarily from 1500 to the
present. The Library focuses on resources that illustrate historic and contemporary
pattern worldwide and how objects are designed, manufactured, marketed, and
used. Subject strengths include:
- Architecture
- Ceramics and porcelain
- Furniture
- Glass
- Graphics – posters, packaging, signage, advertisements
- Industrial designInteriors
- Landscape Design
- Lighting
- Metalwork and jewelry
- Ornamental designs
- Textiles
- Wallpaper
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