Written by Dr. Sue Perks In conjunction with the exhibition Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, designer and researcher Sue Perks offers an expansive look into the Henry Dreyfuss Archive held at Cooper Hewitt. The archive contains detailed documentation on Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, which serves as the basis for the exhibition. In 1972 Henry Dreyfuss published his Symbol Sourcebook, introducing it with: “Announcing the first tool to help break the communication barrier the world over.” It was not just a collection of symbols cla ..read more

Written by Dr. Sue Perks In conjunction with the exhibition Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, designer and researcher Sue Perks offers an expansive look into the Henry Dreyfuss Archive held at Cooper Hewitt. The archive contains detailed documentation on Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, which serves as the basis for the exhibition. While reviewing Henry Dreyfuss and Paul Clifton’s[i] many thousands of letters to organizations asking for symbol information, correspondence from Dr. N. Howard-Jones of the World Health Organization (WHO ..read more

Written by Dr. Sue Perks In conjunction with the exhibition Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, designer and researcher Sue Perks offers an expansive look into the Henry Dreyfuss Archive held at Cooper Hewitt. The archive contains detailed documentation on Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, which serves as the basis for the exhibition.  Henry Dreyfuss knew everyone. His vast network of clients and business associates extended back to his early days as a theatrical designer and read like a “Who’s Who” of the cream of American societ ..read more

Written by Andrea Lipps, Jessica Walthew, and Eric Rodenbeck In 2021, Cooper Hewitt collected the Smithsonian’s first live website, Stamen Design’s Watercolor Maps, into its Digital Curatorial Department. Watercolor Maps is a web-based, open-source mapping tool launched by Stamen in 2012 that renders OpenStreetMap data with the hand-hewn textures and visual effects of watercolor paint. For the acquisition, the museum made a fully functioning, interactive, and open-source copy of the site to ensure its long-term live access, available at http://watercolormaps.collection.cooperhewitt.org. Like ..read more

Written by Dr. Sue Perks In conjunction with the exhibition Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, designer and researcher Sue Perks offers an expansive look into the Henry Dreyfuss Archive held at Cooper Hewitt. The archive contains detailed documentation on Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, which serves as the basis for the exhibition. In publicity material for Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols (published 1972), Henry Dreyfuss (1904–1972) stated, “The skull and crossbones is possibly the most wid ..read more

Written by Dr. Sue Perks In conjunction with the exhibition Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, designer and researcher Sue Perks offers an expansive look into the Henry Dreyfuss Archive held at Cooper Hewitt. The archive contains detailed documentation on Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, which serves as the basis for the exhibition. When Henry Dreyfuss signed the publishing contract with McGraw-Hill to proceed with the design and artwork of what was then known as “The Henry Dreyfuss Sourcebook of Symbols” on July 28, 1970, Dreyfuss’s ..read more

Written by Dr. Sue Perks In conjunction with the exhibition Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, designer and researcher Sue Perks offers an expansive look into the Henry Dreyfuss Archive held at Cooper Hewitt. The archive contains detailed documentation on Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, which serves as the basis for the exhibition. For the Symbols exhibition (Fig. 1) held from January through March 1972 in the Hallmark Gallery, New York, Walter Swartz from the Hallmark Gallery suggested including a panel on how the Symbol Sourcebook ..read more

In 2023, Cooper Hewitt hung the Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag on its south-facing facade. The installation celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride Month and demonstrates the evolution of inclusivity in the design of Pride flags. The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag, installed at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in the Arthur Ross Terrace & Garden. Installation produced by Molly Engelman and Dillon Goldschlag. Photo by Ann Sunwoo. The Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag, installed at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in the Arthur Ross Terrace & Garden. Installation ..read more

Written by Dr. Sue Perks In conjunction with the exhibition Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, designer and researcher Sue Perks offers an expansive look into the Henry Dreyfuss Archive held at Cooper Hewitt. The archive contains detailed documentation on Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, which serves as the basis for the exhibition. For a few years I’ve been corresponding via email with Pam Holaday, who fortuitously replied to a postcard sent to her by my colleagues Wibo Bakker and K. J. Hepworth, who were trying to track down member ..read more

Written by Dr. Sue Perks In conjunction with the exhibition Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, designer and researcher Sue Perks offers an expansive look into the Henry Dreyfuss Archive held at Cooper Hewitt. The archive contains detailed documentation on Dreyfuss’s Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, which serves as the basis for the exhibition. From 1970 to 1972, the final design phase of the Symbol Sourcebook was completed, and the first edition was published on January 11, 1972. Henry Dreyfuss and his wife and business partner, Doris Marks Dre ..read more