The New School Archives and Special Collections provides primary source materials that document the histories of all divisions of The New School, as well as work created by its extended community. The Archives also holds material not directly connected to New School history, with particular strengths in 20th-century fashion, interior, and graphic design practices.
Mary Adrienne Steckling Coen (1934-2006) graduated from Parsons School of Design's Fashion Design Department in 1958. In 1966, "Adri" --her professional name-- created her own line, designing under her own labels for the rest of her career. The records document Adri's professional life, with items arranged by year and season. Includes clippings and tear sheets, photographs, press kits, sketches, swatches, and video recordings.
Contains printed and moving image publicity materials produced for late twentieth century fashion designers, including: Calvin Klein, Donna Karan (DKNY), Joseph Abboud, Pierre Balmain, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger. Also holds printed matter created for Parsons School of Design alumni Anna Sui, Badgley Mischka, Isaac Mizrahi, Marc Jacobs, Narciso Rodriguez, Peter Speliopoulus, and Bruce (Daphne Gutierrez and Nicole Noselli).
A leading figure in the development of American ready-to-wear clothing, John Weitz (1923-2002) created one of the first American signature menswear lines. Weitz was a visiting lecturer at Parsons School of Design from 1975 to 1995. The collection includes design drawings, exhibition files, scrapbooks, clippings, photographs, and audiovisual recordings of promotional campaigns, fashion shows and television commercials.
The collection consists of student work and records created or received by Joseph Marcella while studying in the Design Correlations Department (now Product Design) of Parsons School of Design from 1968 to 1970. In addition to project files for portable structures, underwater and outer space habitations, and a one-piece plastic chair, the collection includes materials documenting the first Earth Day observances at Parsons.
The Lucie Porges fashion design papers include biographical materials, fashion sketches, fashion illustrations and fashion photographs, and teaching records. It is of a primarily professional nature, with little documentation of Porges's personal life. The primary activities documented are Porges's fashion design work for Pauline Trigère and her teaching activities at Parsons School of Design.
After graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1945, Margaret Hodge became director of fashion marketing at Vogue, and in 1967 formed her own fashion publicity firm. Hodge led various marketing campaigns integrating the fashion of Hollywood films. The collection mainly consists of Hollywood promotional material, including publicity photographs, press kits, announcements and tear sheets. Most of the material was produced from 1962 to 1976.
This record group consists of video recordings, clippings, publicity samples, advertising materials, and topical office files, which include a large number of press releases, created by George Calderaro in his capacity as director of publicity for what is, as of 2019, The New School's Schools of Public Engagement. Calderaro led the New School Communications Office (later subsumed into the Marketing and Communications unit), from 1995 to 2005.
This collection primarily consists of photographs of New School students, faculty, administrators, buildings, class sessions, student life, and events. While the photographs span the period between 1933 and 1984, most of the photographs are concentrated between the 1940s and the 1970s.
This collection largely documents the activities of the New School Publicity Office during the 1940s and 1950s, and reflects the range of activities of the department under the leadership of Agnes De Lima, who directed the department for two decades. The collection includes notes and draft materials for the production of press releases, articles in the weekly New School Bulletin, advertisements and course promotion, and administrative materials. Also includes materials related to the organization of art exhibitions and special events, and transcripts of radio announcements and speeches. The Dramatic Workshop, École Libre des Hautes Études and Graduate Faculty series in this collection are especially rich in describing the work of these important New School programs.
This small record group documents two New York City-based projects taught by Parsons School of Design professor Jean McClintock Gardner in the early 1970s. One project focused on the Southern Boulevard Redemption Area in the Bronx, the other on Union Square in Manhattan. These projects involved original research and urban rehabilitation design proposals by students in the Environmental Design Department (now the School of Constructed Environments). Materials include a grant application, an audio recording, a press kit and publicity records, and student research in the form of data sets, interview summaries, design proposals, drafts and final reports, and maps.