While the majority of The Cooper Union Special Collections are non-thematic, since its 2020 inception, the library has established three collecting areas, along with additional collection development strategies and other policies.
The collection consists of artists’ books, book arts, publications and fine press editions. The collection includes iconic artists’ books like Andy Warhol’s Index (1967) and Ed Ruscha’s Thirtyfour Parking Lots in Los Angeles (1967) and book arts by Typophiles, The Grolier Club, and The Limited Editions Club.
This collection consists of books authored and/or owned by members of (or individuals closely linked to) the Cooper and Hewitt families. Peter Cooper opened The Cooper Union in 1859, and Abram Hewitt married into the Cooper family four years prior. Hewitt’s daughters—Sarah, Eleanor, and Amelia—founded the Cooper Union (now Cooper Hewitt) Museum for the Arts of Decoration.
The Cooper Square Collection instantiates the Cooper Union's physical campus as a microcosm of scientific advances and civic ideals. Drawing on the institution's own pedagogical history, it preserves materials on the design, planning, engineering, and development of primarily New York City infrastructure.