Summary

Lyman Martin (1908-2003) graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1939 and joined Thedlow, an interior decoration firm. At Thedlow, Martin created interiors and watercolor renderings, and designed rugs and murals. In 1969, Martin became president of Thedlow, remaining until its closure in 1979. The collection includes student work, interior drawings, a travel diary, floorplans, photographs, clippings, and exhibition files.

Summary

Named one of Architectural Digest’s top 100 designers in 1990 and 2002, Melvin Dwork (1922-2016) attended Parsons School of Design in the 1940s, and later served on the Parsons Advisory Committee. The collection (1920-2012) includes student work, slides, photographs, plans, drawings, news clippings, press releases, brochures, showroom catalogs, personal correspondence and awards.

Abstract Michael Kalil (1943-1991) was an interior architect, philosopher, educator and artist, known for his innovative work with new materials and for humanizing digital technologies. From 1981 to 1991, he was the principal of Kalil Designs/Kalil Studio, a firm that specialized in high-profile commercial, prototype and theoretical, and residential design commissions. Kalil also served as an adjunct faculty member at the Parsons School of Design. The collection includes Kalil's...

Summary

The oral histories comprising this collection were conducted in 2010 in preparation for the exhibit, Radical Shifts: Reshaping the Interior at Parsons, 1955-1985, to record perspectives on the interior and environmental design departments at Parsons School of Design in the 1960s and 1970s. During this period, Parsons' interior design program adopted a more experimental program of study in the newly-created Environmental Design Department.

Summary Raymond S. Waldron, Jr. (1913-2002) attended the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design) from 1938-1941. After serving in World War II, Waldron worked for Lord & Taylor. In 1965, he established his own interior decoration firm. The collection includes his student work, a travel sketchbook, and professional files. Waldron's student work includes notebooks, instructor handouts, sketches and renderings, and tracings. A travel sketchbook...

Abstract

Sunbeam "Sunny" Randall (1898-1993) graduated from Parsons School of Design Interior Design Department in 1951 and worked as a professional decorator. The collection includes course materials, furniture and decorative style sketches, class notes, and a scrapbook documenting Randall's art tour of Europe as a Parsons student in 1950.

Abstract The collection consists of five photograph albums and three scrapbooks compiled by the designer, style arbiter, and Parsons School of Design administrator and president Van Day Truex (1904-1979). Truex's travels and social interactions are documented in the albums' captioned photographs, while scrapbooks chronicle his design and artistic successes. One scrapbook, annotated by Parsons faculty member Stanley Barrows, documents Truex's apartments and the home of his predecessor as president of...

Summary

Violet Holsinger Mueller (1907-2003) studied fashion design at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design) from 1926 through 1929. She worked as an interior designer for Stix, Baer & Fuller, a St. Louis-based department store, and founded her own design consultancy in Belleville, Illinois. Her papers include personal materials, and documentation created during her studies at Parsons and her design career.