The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library has nearly 2,000 movable and pop-up books, that are made with a variety of paper construction types and mechanisms that control the movement of the action on the pages. One type of movable book form is a carousel book. A carousel looks like an ordinary flat two dimensional book, but when opened, it unfolds...
Scouring toy catalogs and selecting their favorites is a holiday tradition for some children. We took a look in our collections to see what children might have selected in 1868. As you might expect, toys from 1868 are quite different from 21st Century toys. This trade catalog gives us a glimpse into playtime for children in 1868. Even though at first...
Tubular steel dressing tables with gold finishes from Kovový nábytek.
This 1930’s Czech tubular steel trade catalog titled Kovový nábytek, (translated simply as Metal Furniture), is a recent addition to the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library’s extensive collection of furniture trade literature. The library collects these invaluable primary...
