The mission of the Cooper Union Archives & Special Collections is to support teaching, research, administration, and service through the management of information resources created by, for, or about The Cooper Union and the Cooper Union community.
Our collections thus include a wide variety of manuscripts, papers, books, audio and film reels, and photographs that document the development of The Cooper Union, as well as the continued contributions and achievements of our founders, faculty and alumni, including the papers of Peter Cooper and Abram S. Hewitt. Some of these materials have been scanned and can be viewed online via The Internet Archive. The bulk of our material remains undigitized, but is accessible to view in person. See our Visit the Archive page for more information on viewing material.
In addition to the college's Archives and Special Collections, The Cooper Union is home to two other incredible resources for archival material: The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography and the The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture Student Work Collection. Some recent historical documentation is also available via the The Cooper Union YouTube, through which you can watch Great Hall programs, school events such as Commencement, student project videos, and more.
Through The Cooper Union's library consortium agreement, current Cooper Union students also have access to archival material at The New School, the New York School for Interior Design, and New York University, which includes the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.
Please email us at archives@cooper.edu with any questions you might have about the Cooper Union Archives or the archival research options available to current Cooper Union students. Further information about the Cooper Union Archives is available via the following links:
Address: 7 East 7th St, New York, NY 10003 | Email: archives@cooper.edu | Phone: (212) 353-4184 | Website: library.cooper.edu/archives
The Cooper Union Library
7 E 7th St.
New York, NY
10003