Richard Cranch Greenleaf (1887–1961) was a prolific collector of lace, costume, and textiles. To a large extent, the strength of Cooper-Hewitt’s collection in these areas can be attributed to his generosity. Starting in 1950, Greenleaf began donating groups of lace, small accessories such as purses and coifs, and finely woven European silks and embroidered textiles....

Why? Solar towers capture solar energy to heat air under an expansive collector zone. Based on the principle that heat rises, this air flows towards the center of the collector through electricity-generating turbines and up and out of the tower, like a chimney. When built, the tower will be about 750 meters high and could...