The Cooper Union Archives & Special Collections

Do I need an appointment to visit the Archives?

The Cooper Union Archives & Special Collections is open Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm, and does not require students, faculty, staff, alumni or friends of the library to make appointments in order to view archival material during these hours. Outside researchers are advised to write archives@cooper.edu with the date and time of your intended visit, so that access can be arranged with building security.

Can I bring a class to the Archives?

Absolutely! We are happy to work with faculty and adjunct instructors to develop class visits tailored to meet learning objectives. Examples of materials that have been used by classes include the records of the School of Design for Women (art history, women's history); annual reports and student newspapers (institutional history, student life); color slides of student work (art practice); documentation of Great Hall events (New York City, civic life); and Peter Cooper's patents (invention, science history).

If you would like to use archival material with your class, just reach out to archives@cooper.edu to schedule a session. 

How do I get to the Archives?

The Cooper Union Archives & Special Collections are housed in the mezzanine of the Cooper Union Library, located in the Foundation Building at the triangle intersection of 3rd Avenue, 4th Avenue, and 7th Street in downtown Manhattan. If you see the Astor Place cube, you know you're close!

The Archives have their own adjacent reading room for researchers to spend time with archival material. Unfortunately, this room is not currently ADA accessible, but we are more than happy to serve archival materials to researchers in the library on the ground floor as needed. Please contact us at archives@cooper.edu if you have questions or concerns about accessibility and the Archives. 

Anything else I need to know before I go?

Glad you asked! There are a few quirks of archival research that it's handy to be prepared for, such as:

• You are welcome to use pencils, notepads, laptops, or tablets. You can not bring pens, food, drink, or gum into the reading room. 
• Photographs are allowed for research purposes. If you would like to use an image from the Archive in a published work, please contact archives@cooper.edu for information on rights and permissions.
• Scans of archival material are made on a case-by-case basis. Some of our material is too fragile to submit to a scanner, and we reserve the right to refuse to scan certain collections.

Covid-19 Requirements: Anyone entering the building must be able to show ID and proof of vaccination.