A curated collection of graphic design history resources, digitized books and manuscripts, historic publications, museum collections, archives, typography resources, contemporary design references, open educational resources, and places to explore design and visual culture in New York City. This collection has developed through years of teaching, research, and professional practice.
Online Design History & Research Resources
Key Books & Reference
- Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, 6th Edition — Philip Meggs and Alston Purvis, 2016.
- Graphic Design History, 2nd Edition — Johanna Drucker and Emily McVarish.
- Graphic Design: A New History, 2nd Edition — Stephen J. Eskilson.
- The History of Graphic Design, Vol. 1: 1890–1959 — Jens Müller.
- The History of Graphic Design, Vol. 2: 1960–Today — Jens Müller.
- The Elements of Typographic Style — Robert Bringhurst.
- Neue Grafik / New Graphic Design / Graphisme Actuel — Richard P. Lohse, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Hans Neuburg and Carlo L. Vivarelli.
- Manuale Typographicum — Hermann Zapf.
- Typographie: A Manual of Design — Emil Ruder.
Graphic Design History
- Design Is History
- History of Graphic Design
- History of Graphic Design — Guity Novin
- Storie di Grafica Italiana
- AIGA Design Archives
- Archives.design
- Women of Graphic Design
- The People’s Graphic Design Archive
- Design Reviewed
- Graphis — Design Masters
- VADS Collections
Historic Publications & Periodicals
- IADDB — Digitized Historic Design Publications
- IADDB — Historic Periodicals
- Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications
- De Stijl Magazine
- The Studio Magazine
- The Savoy
- The Savoy — Background
- The Yellow Book
- Ver Sacrum 1898–1903 — Complete Issues
- Belvedere Research Library — Ver Sacrum
- Wendingen
- Wendingen No. 11, 1921 — El Lissitzky Cover
- Wendingen — Archive & Background
- Jugend
- LEF
- Dada & Surrealism Archive
- Het Overzicht
- Typographische Mitteilungen — Jan Tschichold, 1925
- Bauhaus Magazine 1926–1931
- PM Magazine
- Avant Garde Magazine
- Eros Magazine
- Fact Magazine
- Emigre Magazine
- Graphis Archives
- Fortune Magazine Covers
- Modernist Magazines
- Pulp Magazine Archive
- Avant-Garde & Modernist Periodicals in Multiple Languages
- NYPL — Book Art & Illustration
Manuscripts, Early Books & Printing
- Hill Museum & Manuscript Library — digitized manuscripts from around the world.
- Jikji — surviving movable-metal-type publication, Korea, 1377
- Morgan Library — Gutenberg Bible
- Library of Congress — Gutenberg Bible
- Morgan Library — Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts
- Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry
- Book of Kells — Trinity College Dublin
- Canterbury Tales — Yale University
- British Library Manuscripts
- Vergilius Vaticanus, c. 400 CE
- Abbā Garimā Gospels 2
- Abbā Garimā Gospels 1
- Codex Argenteus, c. 500 CE
- Museums & Libraries with Digitized Illuminated Manuscripts
- 800 Illuminated Medieval Manuscripts Online
- Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis
- Beatus of Facundus, 1047
- Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta — Getty Museum
- Andreas Vesalius — De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 1543
- Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, 1499
- Hypnerotomachia Poliphili — Buffalo Library
- Albrecht Dürer — Unterweisung der Messung
- Albrecht Dürer — Unterweisung der Messung, Internet Archive
- Geoffroy Tory — Champ Fleury
- Allard Pierson — History of the Book
- The Universal Penman
- William Blake Archive
- William Blake’s Illuminated Books
- Giambattista Bodoni — Manuale Tipografico
- William Caslon — A Specimen of Printing Types
- Metropolitan Museum — Japanese Illustrated Books
- Typographica Library — Type Foundry Catalogs
- Morte Darthur — Volume 1
- Morte Darthur — Volume 2
Judaic Manuscripts
- Library of Congress Judaic Manuscript
- NYPL Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts
- Yale Jewish Studies Collections
- Columbia Hebraica Collection
- Yeshiva University Manuscripts
- Jewish Theological Seminary Manuscripts
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- Leningrad Codex — Color Images
- Leningrad Codex
- Birds’ Head Haggadah
- Birds’ Head Haggadah — Facsimile
- Golden Haggadah
- Rothschild Haggadah
- Sarajevo Haggadah
- Moravian Haggadah, 1741
- Mohel Book
- German Manuscript, c. 1480
- German Manuscript, c. 1740
Islamic, Asian & Global Manuscripts
- Malay Qur’an Manuscript
- Cambridge Islamic Manuscripts
- Columbia Muslim World Manuscripts
- Penn Muslim World Manuscripts
- Arabic Collections Online
- University of Michigan — Islamic Manuscript Collections
- National Museum of India — Manuscripts
- Tibetan Dragon Buddhist Canon
- Cheongju Early Printing Museum — Jikji
- Contemporary Ukiyo-e — Adachi Hanga
Playing Cards & Early Printed Images
- Early Study of Playing Cards
- History of Graphic Design — Playing Cards
- Chinese Playing Cards
- History of Playing Cards
- Hofämterspiel, c. 1450 — Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
Bauhaus, Constructivism, Futurism & Modernism
- El Lissitzky & Hans Arp — Die Kunstismen
- Fortunato Depero — Depero Futurista / Bolted Book
- F.T. Marinetti — Parole in Libertà
- Stenberg Brothers — MoMA
- Stenberg Brothers Film Posters
- The New Typography: Avant-Garde Design — Paul Stirton
- Bauhaus — Monoskop
- Bauhaus Photography
- Moholy-Nagy Foundation
- Harvard Bauhaus Collection
- Saul Bass — Art of the Title
- Otto Neurath — International Picture Language / Isotype
- Trademarks & Symbols — Yasaburo Kuwayama
- A.M. Cassandre Gallery
- Massimo & Lella Vignelli
Vienna Secession, Arts & Crafts & Art Nouveau
- Alphonse Mucha — Slav Epic
- Alphonse Mucha — Artnet
- Wiener Werkstätte Graphics
- Vienna Secession Artists
- MAK Vienna
- MAK Online Collection
- Leopold Museum Online Collection
- Wiener Werkstätte — Contemporary Manufacturer
- Moravian Pottery & Tile Works Museum
- Arts & Crafts at The Met
- Aubrey Beardsley
- Aubrey Beardsley 2020
- Albertina
- Secession Vienna
- Leopold Museum
- Gustav Klimt Gallery
Poster, Propaganda & Illustration Archives
- University of Michigan — Political Posters
- Living New Deal
- Library of Congress — WPA Posters
- Library of Congress — World War I Posters
- National WWI Museum — Posters
- National Archives — Powers of Persuasion
- Marshall Foundation Poster Collection
- Imperial War Museum Poster Collection
- Italian WWI Posters
- Museum of International Propaganda
- National Museum of American Illustration
- Illustration History
- Brandywine River Museum of Art
- Norman Rockwell Museum Collection
- Society of Illustrators
- International Poster Gallery
- Collezione Salce — Italian Poster Collection
- Archivio Grafica Italiana
- Gráfica Ilustrada de Uruguay
- Canada Modern
Museums, Archives & International Collections
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Morgan Library & Museum
- Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum
- Museum of Modern Art
- Museum of Arts and Design
- British Museum
- The Louvre
- Asian Art Museum
- Library of Congress
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
- San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Getty Collection
- British Library
- RIT Graphic Design Archive
- London Transport Museum
- eMuseum — Museum für Gestaltung Zürich
- SOCMUS
- Letterform Archive Online
- Plantin-Moretus Museum — Digitized Woodcuts
- Museo Bodoniano
- National Print Museum of Ireland
- National Print Museum Virtual Tour
- National Print Museum Films
- National Print Museum YouTube Channel
- Tipoteca Italiana
- Archivio Tipografico
- Casa d’Arte Futurista Depero
- NABA — Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti
- Bonvini 1909
- Anonima Impressori
- Fondazione Cirulli
- Corraini Milano
- Fondazione Mondadori
- William Morris Society Collection
Typography & Type Resources
- Type Directors Club
- Association Typographique Internationale
- Society of Publication Designers
- TypeRoom
- Typewolf
- Type Connection
- Typographica
- TypeToken
- Type for You
- Grain Edit
- Typeverything
- Linotype: The Film
- Typographica Type-Specimen Library
Contemporary Graphic Design & Inspiration
- Eye Magazine
- PRINT Magazine
- SearchSystem
- Visuelle
- It’s Nice That
- Brand New
- Why Design
- Designspiration
- Ads of the World
- The One Club for Creativity
- AIGA
- Dear Design Student
- Webby Awards
- We Made This — Graphic Design History Resources
Open Educational & Public-Domain Resources
- World Digital Library
- Public Domain Review
- Open Library
- OER Commons
- Project Gutenberg
- Internet Archive
- American Memory — Library of Congress
- Open Education Resources — Art
- Creative Commons
- Open Culture — Free Online Courses
- The New School Open Campus
Used & Rare Books
International Digitized Periodicals
Major digital collections of historic avant-garde, art, architecture, literary, design and cultural periodicals include:
- Blue Mountain Project — historic avant-garde periodicals maintained by Princeton University.
- Bibliothèque Kandinsky — Centre Pompidou research collections.
- International Dada Archive — digitized Dada publications.
- Heidelberg University Library — digitized art journals and publications.
- International Advertising & Design Database
- New York Public Library Digital Collections
- UbuWeb Historical — avant-garde publications and documents.
- Digital Library of the Caribbean — multilingual periodicals and cultural collections.
- Modernist Journals Project — digitized English-language modernist magazines.
- Media History Digital Library — digitized magazines, books, and media-history publications.
- Gallica — Bibliothèque nationale de France — digitized French books, journals, newspapers, and periodicals.
- ANNO — Austrian National Library — historic newspapers and magazines.
- Polona — National Library of Poland — digitized books, magazines, manuscripts, prints, and other collections.
- Royal Danish Library Digital Collections
- Munich Digitization Center — digitized books, periodicals, and historic publications.
- National Diet Library of Japan — digital collections and periodicals.
- Biblioteca Nacional de España — Hemeroteca Digital — historic Spanish newspapers and periodicals.
- Hemeroteca Digital Brasileira — Brazilian digitized newspapers and periodicals.
- National Library of Portugal
Pinterest / Visual Research
Pinterest Design Resources — visual references for graphic design, typography, design history, illustration, posters, editorial design, and related research.
New York City Design Resources & Places to Visit
New York City offers an exceptional concentration of museums, archives, libraries, galleries, cultural organizations, book-arts centers, historic clubs, schools, bookstores and other places to experience graphic design and visual culture firsthand. This is an evolving list rather than a complete guide.
Graphic Design, Typography, Books & Printing
- Poster House
- Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography
- Center for Book Arts — 28 W 27th St.
- Printed Matter — artists’ books and independent publications.
- Type Directors Club
- Society of Illustrators — 128 E 63rd St.
- Bowne & Co. — historic printing and letterpress.
- International Poster Gallery
Museums & Major Collections
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
- Morgan Library & Museum
- Museum of Modern Art
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Museum of Arts and Design
- Whitney Museum of American Art
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Asia Society Museum
- International Center of Photography
- Museum of the Moving Image
- Neue Galerie New York
- Museum at FIT
- National Academy of Design
Libraries & Archives
- New York Public Library — Exhibitions
- NYPL Rare Book Division — Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
- Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library
- The Grolier Club
Historic Clubs, Galleries & Smaller Venues
- National Arts Club — 15 Gramercy Park South.
- Salmagundi Club — 47 Fifth Ave.
- Bard Graduate Center — 18 W 86th St.
- New York Studio School — 8 W 8th St.
- Art Students League of New York — 215 W 57th St.
College & University Exhibitions
International Cultural Institutes
- Italian Cultural Institute — 686 Park Ave.
- Scandinavia House — 58 Park Ave.
- Austrian Cultural Forum New York — 11 E 52nd St.
- Kosciuszko Foundation — 15 E 65th St.
- Czech Centre New York — 321 E 73rd St.
- Onassis Cultural Center
- Korean Cultural Center New York
Additional New York Resources
- Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Art
- Strand Book Store
- Argosy Book Store — 116 E 59th St.
- Academy Records & CDs
This collection is continually evolving. Additional design archives, publications, museums, exhibitions, libraries and New York City resources will be added over time.