The New School Archives And Special Collections

Overview

David Saperton was an American pianist, composer, and teacher who notably performed and recorded much of the music of his father-in-law, renowned pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky. The papers include Saperton’s music manuscripts, correspondence, and several photographs he collected.

Abstract The Democracy Seminar, a network of seminars that ran from 1984 to 1994, and again from 2018 to the present (2021), were semi-clandestine meetings of scholars held simultaneously in Warsaw, Budapest and New York, before spreading to cities across Eastern and Central Europe. The seminar discussed topics in democratic politics and culture, and was the genesis of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies at The New School for Social Research. The Democracy Seminar oral history...

Summary

Dero Darwin, Jr. (1929-2014) graduated from Parsons School of Design's Interior Design Department in 1964. This collection includes design work Darwin produced as a student, as well as lecture notes and course materials, and material from Darwin's professional design career.

Scope and Content of Collection The Designer files collection was assembled by Kellen Design Archives staff between approximately 1994 and 2008 from a variety of sources (on occasion new files continue to be added). Subjects are typically Parsons School of Design graduates, visiting critics, lecturers, or faculty. Folder contents may include press clippings, work samples, ephemera, slides, and such printed materials as business cards, postcards, and pamphlets. For each letter of the alphabet, general...

Abstract

The collection is comprised of a digital scan of a single photograph depicting attendees at a dinner for the New School for Social Research's University in Exile held on January 15, 1936 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Summary

Donald Brooks (1928-2005) was a prominent American fashion designer who, in addition to creating ready-to-wear collections and custom apparel, designed costumes for film, television, and theater. He taught at Parsons School of Design for approximately forty years. The collection includes photographs, publicity materials, and original fashion and costume design sketches.

Abstract

Dora Mathieu (1909-1980) taught fashion drawing in the Parsons School of Design Fashion Illustration Department, 1964-1966. The Kellen Design Archives holds twenty-nine of Mathieu's sketches, depicting notable designers of the mid-twentieth century. Although the earliest dated portrait is from 1938, the bulk of the collection was created between 1965 and 1968.

Abstract

Dorothy Haon (1898-1995) attended the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design) in 1923-1924, and went on to careers in fashion design and merchandising. The collection, which spans the late 1930s through the 1950s, includes working sketches and notes, cloth patterns, fabric samples, and business records. Also included is work by Dorothy's sister, Marion Haon.

Summary

A drawing of a male nude by Parsons School of Design alumnus and president Van Day Truex, formerly owned by Harry and Dorothy Kneedler Lawenda.

Abstract

Materials intended for display in an exhibition celebrating Edith Wise Sommerich and Otto Sommerich. Edith was a longtime New School student, founding member and chair of the New School Associates, and, with Otto, a major donor to the school. The records consist of biographical documentation, correspondence related to Associates events, and a letter from President Emeritus Alvin Johnson.