Research Resources

The archivists at The New School Archives and Special Collections are available to help you with your research and can offer guidance for locating resources specific to your topic. Contact us at archivist@newschool.edu.

Scanning

Researchers can request the digitization of material from The New School Archives. Up to 10 scans are provided free of charge to New School-affiliated researchers, and further scans may be provided for a fee. More information on our digitization policies and fees can be found here.

Subject Guides

Guides to using The New School Archives, and for conducting archival research on particular topics:

Introduction to Archival Research

Fashion Design Collections in the Kellen Design Archives

Interior Design Collections in the Kellen Design Archives

Researching Activism at The New School

Personal Digital Archiving

Remote Research in the Archives

Course Information and Descriptions

Historical course catalogs from The New School, Parsons School of Design, and Mannes College of Music can be accessed on our Digital Collections website. For courses taken between 2007-2020, please use the Course Description Archive database.

New School History

The New School Archives has many collections that document the history of The New School, Parsons School of Design, and Mannes School of Music. Search our collections.

Another great source for information is Histories of The New School, a site with short articles contributed by students, faculty, alumni, and staff. 

Other Secondary Sources

• Public Seminar Essays on New School Histories
  Essays and a podcast created, edited, and curated by faculty members Julia Foulkes and Mark Larrimore on selected aspects of New School history. 

• Site-Specific Art at The New School
  Online catalog of site-specific artworks on campus, including archival photographs of the works and other related documentation from The New School Archives.

Books

• A Light in Dark Times: The New School for Social Research and its University in Exile Judith Friedlander

• I Stand in My Place With My Own Day Here: Site-Specific Art at The New School edited by Frances Richard

• Intellectuals in Exile Claus-Dieter Krohn

• New School: A History of the New School for Social Research Peter Rutkoff and William Scott

• Pioneer's Progress: An Autobiography Alvin Saunders Johnson

• Realizing The New School: Lessons from the Past Julia Foulkes and Mark Larrimore

Related Archival Collections

• Hannah Arendt papers
  The fullest version of the Library of Congress’s digitized Hannah Arendt papers may be accessed without an appointment at The New School’s List Center Library. 

• German and Jewish Intellectual Émigré Collection
  Papers of scholars who were affiliated with The New School’s University in Exile are held at the archives of the State University of New York at Albany.

• Center for Jewish History
  The Center for Jewish History holds the personal papers of many refugee scholars who taught at The New School for Social Research.

• Rockefeller Archive Center
  Records from the Rockefeller Foundation pertaining to the refugee scholar program, including requests for assistance from scholars associated with the University in Exile.