The American press dubbed Dorothy Liebes the “First Lady of the Loom.” However, her activities stretched far beyond handweaving. The California native began weaving on commission in 1930 and opened a studio in San Francisco in 1937. By 1940 she worked bi-coastally, opening a second studio in Manhattan at some point before permanently relocating in 1948.

Liebes emphasized the translation of her work on the handloom to industrial applications. During the 1930s she gained national recognition for incorporating then-unsual materials such as bamboo, grasses, cellophane, and synthetics. In the post-World War II era, Liebes was central to the emergence and popularity of Lurex in commercial textiles. In the 1950s, she parlayed her penchant for startling color combinations into a significant role as a consultant, trend predictor, and ambassador for such consumer brands as Dupont, Sears, and Jantzen, which relied on her power as a household name to market their fashions, textiles, and interior furnishings.

Liebes had a flair for publicity and owned at least three special looms with unconventional hand-carved details. This bold red loom appears in publicity photographs of Liebes and her studio from the late 1930s to the mid-1960s. She gifted the loom with its partially woven work-in-progress to her ten-year-old great-niece Michelle Todd in 1967. Todd never learned how to use it and instead kept it “as an art piece” in her bedroom.

Nina B. Forsythe, the loom’s inventor, was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She studied textiles there and in China, Japan, Paris, and London, including a stint with the arts and crafts designer William Morris in the summer of 1894. She went on to teach in various colleges around the United States until moving to Berkeley, California, where she opened her School of Textiles and Handcrafts in sometime before 1919.

William John “Bill” Cunningham (1929-2016) was a long-time New York Times photographer and journalist known for his “On the Street” and “Evening Hours” columns. As much a cultural anthropologist as he was a fashion photographer, Cunningham was known for candid street or event photographs of New Yorkers that depicted up-to-the-minute fashion trends. Among Cunningham’s most frequent locations to photograph his candid shots was the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Seventh Street and at the “up-to-twenty galas” he attended each week.

To achieve his telling photographs, Bill Cunningham often circulated around the city on a bicycle. The Nikon camera is one of several owned by Cunningham, and was probably used through the end of his career.

For nearly a century, Surma Books & Music Co. was a cultural hub for New York City’s Ukrainian immigrant centered community in the East Village, also known as Little Ukraine. Until its recent closure, the store had been located at 11 East Seventh Street since 1943.

Myron Surmach Sr., its founder, arrived at Ellis Island from the Ukraine in 1910. He settled in New York City after working various odd jobs in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Joining a Czech gymnastics group prompted him to open his shop in 1918 to sell gym clothing and Ukrainian books. It evolved into a general store, selling phonographs and washing machines, but Surmach also offered services such as letter reading. Surmach had sold pysanky, or Ukranian Easter eggs, since 1921, but his daughter, the artist Yaroslava Surmach Mills (1925–2009), further promoted the traditional resist-dyeing craft by developing specialized egg-dyeing kits in 1957. The kit contains a stylus, six dye colors, setting powder, waxes, a dipper, color design cards, and an instruction booklet illustrated by Mills.

These tools were used by Harry E. Champoli (1872-1935), an Italian immigrant mason who owned a Bronx construction company during the 1920s. Champoli was born in San Vito Chietino, in the Abruzzo region of Italy and came to the U.S. around the 1890s. According to his granddaughter, he learned the mason's trade in Italy, and probably came to New York to take advantage of the opportunities in the expanding metropolis. He reportedly worked on many prominent buildings, including Grand Central Station and the Plaza Hotel. He also donated his services for the Casa Italiana at Columbia University, a McKim, Mead, and White building in the Florentine Reniassance style built in 1927 as a gift of the Italian American community. For his contributions, Champoli was awarded a bronze medal by Mayor La Guardia and a gold medal by Benito Mussolini. Around 1930, he travled to Italy for the official opening of a brick factory that he donated to his native town of San Vito Chietino.

This parallel rule was among the tools used by Harry E. Champoli (1872-1935), an Italian immigrant mason who owned a Bronx construction company during the 1920s. Champoli was born in San Vito Chietino, in the Abruzzo region of Italy and came to the U.S. around the 1890s. According to his granddaughter, he learned the mason's trade in Italy, and probably came to New York to take advantage of the opportunities in the expanding metropolis. He reportedly worked on many prominent buildings, including Grand Central Station and the Plaza Hotel. He also donated his services for the Casa Italiana at Columbia University, a McKim, Mead, and White building in the Florentine Reniassance style built in 1927 as a gift of the Italian American community. For his contributions, Champoli was awarded a bronze medal by Mayor La Guardia and a gold medal by Benito Mussolini. Around 1930, he travled to Italy for the official opening of a brick factory that he donated to his native town of San Vito Chietino.

This triangle was among the tools used by Harry E. Champoli (1872-1935), an Italian immigrant mason who owned a Bronx construction company during the 1920s. Champoli was born in San Vito Chietino, in the Abruzzo region of Italy and came to the U.S. around the 1890s. According to his granddaughter, he learned the mason's trade in Italy, and probably came to New York to take advantage of the opportunities in the expanding metropolis. He reportedly worked on many prominent buildings, including Grand Central Station and the Plaza Hotel. He also donated his services for the Casa Italiana at Columbia University, a McKim, Mead, and White building in the Florentine Reniassance style built in 1927 as a gift of the Italian American community. For his contributions, Champoli was awarded a bronze medal by Mayor La Guardia and a gold medal by Benito Mussolini. Around 1930, he travled to Italy for the official opening of a brick factory that he donated to his native town of San Vito Chietino.

This protractor was among the tools used by Harry E. Champoli (1872-1935), an Italian immigrant mason who owned a Bronx construction company during the 1920s. Champoli was born in San Vito Chietino, in the Abruzzo region of Italy and came to the U.S. around the 1890s. According to his granddaughter, he learned the mason's trade in Italy, and probably came to New York to take advantage of the opportunities in the expanding metropolis. He reportedly worked on many prominent buildings, including Grand Central Station and the Plaza Hotel. He also donated his services for the Casa Italiana at Columbia University, a McKim, Mead, and White building in the Florentine Reniassance style built in 1927 as a gift of the Italian American community. For his contributions, Champoli was awarded a bronze medal by Mayor La Guardia and a gold medal by Benito Mussolini. Around 1930, he travled to Italy for the official opening of a brick factory that he donated to his native town of San Vito Chietino.

According to the accession records, this tabouret was used by Asher B. Durand, an artist and engraver best known for his Hudson River school paintings.

According to the accession records, this tabouret was used by Asher B. Durand, an artist and engraver best known for his Hudson River school paintings.

According to the accession records, this tabouret was used by Asher B. Durand, an artist and engraver best known for his Hudson River school paintings.