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 include a wide variety of manuscripts, objects, publications, color slides, film and video, and photographs that document the development of The Cooper Union, as well as the continued contributions and achievements of our founders, faculty, staff, and alumni. Collections that have proved of particular interest to genealogy researchers include:
Most of these materials remain undigitized. Contact archives@cooper.edu to request scans or make an appointment to view materials in person. See below for a list of materials that have been digitized and are available online:
* Please be advised that post-1974 registration records are protected by FERPA.
Since its opening in 1858, The Cooper Union’s Great Hall has provided a platform for social activism, education, culture, and electoral politics. The largest open space designed for public gatherings and civic functions in New York City below 14th Street when it was built, the Great Hall has hosted lectures and debates that include the earliest workers' rights campaigns, the birth of the NAACP, the women's suffrage movement, the founding of the Red Cross, and Abraham Lincoln’s February 27, 1860 “Right Makes Might” address, which propelled him to the United States presidency. Prominent thinkers from every field, including 11 aspiring, sitting, and former Presidents, have spoken from the Great Hall stage.
The Voices From the Great Hall website is a portal through which to access digitized sound and moving image recordings, photographs, press releases, announcements, and ephemera documenting events in the Great Hall at The Cooper Union from the 19th century to the present.
Visit the site: greathallvoices.cooper.edu
The Cooper Union's Digital Archive began in 2023. It contains digitized and born digital archival materials from the Cooper Union Archives and Special Collections. These materials are accessible for research purposes, but rights may apply, so please contact us at archives@cooper.edu if you would like to use material in a published work.
Visit the site: cooper.hykucommons.org
The bulk of our material remains undigitized, but is accessible to view in person. Search the archives to get a sense of our materials, and view our Visit the Archives page for information on conducting research in person.
