The Kellen Design Archives is home to primary source materials in the areas of 20th century American fashion, interior, and graphic design, architecture, environmental design, illustration, photography, and product design. Forming Parsons' institutional memory, our collections embody the history of the school since its founding in 1896. The Kellen Design Archives also hold a small collection of materials documenting aspects of The New School from the period before Parsons became part of the university.

This semester and last we've been holding workshops in the Kellen Design Archives, giving students experience with archival research.

On March 20, Radhika Subramaniam's class, "Curating the City" came to the archives, and on March 23, Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani's "Visual Urbanism" visited. Led by associate archivist Jenny Swadosh, students engaged in a discussion about the nature of archives, got some concrete pointers on how to find primary source materials, then dove in for some hands-on experience working with archives. They will be returning to complete independent projects based upon research in Kellen Design Archives collections.

Kellen Project Archivist Jen Larson blogs about the Michael Kalil Interior Design Collection

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William Merritt Chase - Read a short biography about American Impressionist painter William Merritt Chase, who founded the Chase School (which later became Parsons).

Frank Alvah Parsons - Read a short biography about longtime Parsons' President Frank Alvah Parsons, in whose honor the school was renamed in 1941.

Coming soon: An Interactive Timeline of Parsons School of Design

Click below to see a small sampling of images from our collections.