(New York, NY - June 9, 2005) New School University announced today that its University Library has received a grant in the amount of $150,000 from the Getty Foundation, the philanthropic division of the J. Paul Getty Trust. The grant will support the arrangement and description of the Parsons School of Design’s archives, known as the Parsons School of Design Institutional Collection.
The Parsons School of Design Institutional Collection, is an archival collection housed in the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Archives Center, a division of the New School University Library. The intellectual and cultural importance of this archival collection extends well beyond the school’s documentary record. Its documents chronicle the evolution of art and design pedagogy in America and abroad, and tell a compelling story about the intersection of art, design, technology, taste and commerce. The collection contains approximately 303 cubic feet of manuscripts, photographs, moving images, recorded sound, and other realia and ephemera documenting the school’s history. Among these items are sketches from designers and Parsons alumni Donna Karan and Isaac Mizrah from their student days; materials from Parsons’ Paris branch, particularly materials from the 1920s and 1930s; and videotapes of all of the annual Parsons fashion shows featuring student work.
The goals of the project are to conserve through stabilization the most important collections documenting the history of Parsons School of Design; to increase the collections’ visibility and accessibility to the public and scholarly community; and to establish a precedent for all future accumulations of records and their conservation, using innovative technology in conformity with the widely accepted standards of arrangement and description promulgated by the Society of American Archivists.
More than a century’s worth of immensely creative thought has shaped the mission of Parsons School of Design - thought that has reflected the needs of a constantly changing world. Faced with cultural, industrial, and technological revolutions, Parsons School of Design has not only adapted, but has set the standard for art and design instruction. Conserving and increasing access to this important historical collection will enable design students and scholars of the history of design and design pedagogy to learn and gain inspiration from Parsons’ distinguished history.
The archives contain a wealth of documentation on diverse subjects including the effects of social mores on art education, the evolution and development of design education and its relation to industry, the democratization of taste, the promulgation of new design theories, the influence of computer technology on design education, and the impact of Frank Alvah Parsons and his school on the American design aesthetic.
The unprecedented access that will result from a project to arrange, describe, and catalog the Parsons School of Design archives will provide students and scholars with research materials containing the potential to transform the scholarship of art and design pedagogy.
About the Kellen Archives Center
The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Archives Center of Parsons School of Design, a division of the New School University Library, is a repository for archival materials relating to the history of art and design, with a special focus on the history of the school and the careers of its faculty, students, alumni, and other associates.
About New School University
New School University, with 8,000 matriculated students and 15,000 continuing education students, is a New York City university committed to critical scholarship, artistic integrity, and ethical responsibility in the social sciences, humanities, the arts and design. It is comprised of a liberal arts foundation of three schools: The New School, Eugene Lang College and the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, and five professional schools: Parsons School of Design, Mannes College of Music, The New School for Drama, Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, and New School University Jazz & Contemporary Music Program. For additional information on New School University, call (212) 229-5600 or visit the Web site at www.newschool.edu.
About the J. Paul Getty Trust
The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The Getty Trust and the Getty programs are located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Additional information is available on the Getty Web site at www.getty.edu.