Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's "Wallcoverings" department contains the largest and most varied collection of wallpaper in the United States, with more than 10,000 examples. Pieces date from the late 17th century through today and represent many countries of origin.
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's "Textiles" collection contains more than 30,000 pieces representing an extraordinarily wide range of woven and non-woven techniques. Extending from ancient to contemporary examples, the earliest pieces in the collection are from Han Dynasty China (206 BC to AD 221).
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's library is a branch of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and contains more than 70,000 volumes, including books, periodicals, catalogs and trade literature dating from the 15th through the 20th centuries. Volumes cover American and European design and decorative arts with concentrations in architecture, graphic design, interior design, ornamental patterns, furniture, wallcoverings, textiles, metalwork, glass, ceramics and jewelry. The Library's Archive contains photographs, correspondence, promotional material, drawings, writings and related resource items for more than 30 American designers, including Henry Dreyfuss and Donald Deskey.
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's department of "Product Design & Decorative Arts" is home to approximately 40,000 three-dimensional objects dating from antiquity to the 21st century, which form an important and comprehensive resource for decorative art and design. International in scope, the collection contains an exceptionally diverse assortment of objects, reflecting a vast range of historical styles and design movements. Categories of objects within the collections include ceramics, furniture, metalwork, lighting, glass, jewelry, architectural elements and industrial design.
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's Drue Heinz Study Center for Drawings and Prints houses more than 160,000 works of art dating from the Renaissance to the present related to the history of European and American art and design. Among the world's foremost repositories of European and American works on paper, the collection includes designs for architecture, decorative arts, gardens, interiors, ornament, jewelry, theater, textiles, graphic and industrial design, as well as the fine arts.
Explore our museum floor plans before you go so you can make the most of your time when you arrive.
The Shop at Cooper-Hewitt offers products by a range of contemporary designers, from exclusive limited editions to tableware, jewelry, accessories and glassware. The Shop also sells items relating to the Museum's exhibitions and extensive permanent collections and boasts a wide selection of books on design, including many rare and hard to find titles.
