Well known for its collection of children’s books, the Cooper Hewitt Library holds a rare 19th Century illustrated German nursery rhyme children’s book titled Paradiesfibel, written and illustrated to teach sign language.
Alpenmarchen tales (Alpine Flowers) is a 1922 illustrated storybook that describes the woodland adventures of two acorn children who are swept away by the autumn winds. Author Ernst Kreidolf (1863-1956) was a Swiss painter largely known for his watercolor illustrations for children’s books about flower fairies and small creatures in the mountains, forests in nature....
The library owns books like Researches into the history of playing cards that supports research into the objects in the museum’s curatorial departments. In studying this book, I was able to make a connection between the illustrations and some playing cards in the Cooper Hewitt Museum’s Drawings & Prints collections. This book is an in-depth...
American jazz and popular dance tunes- for the foxtrot and other 1920’s and 30’s dances, dominated nightlife and entertainment in the movies and live performance.
Elizabeth Broman discusses the 1920s trade catalogue The Master Silk Printer.
The first non-stop, first transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh from New York to Paris in May 1927 was acclaimed around the world as one of the most remarkable and heroic accomplishments in history. The people of Paris were especially excited about the journey since their city was where Lindbergh would be touching down after nearly...
Elizabeth Broman discusses the work of influential Jazz-Age photojournalist Thérèse Bonney.
Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library librarian Elizabeth Broman discusses a 1929 American wordless novel.
Elizabeth Broman discusses Joseph Urban's theatre design. His murals for the Ziegfeld Theatre are now on view in The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.
