From washing machines to computers, and sports cars to space capsules, America's infatuation with invention has fueled industrial design. Design history helps us understand American culture in a whole new way. By engaging an interdisciplinary team of diverse experts, Art Center College of Design proposes to advance historical knowledge of American culture through an archival preservation and access management pilot project. As the country's leading school of industrial design, Art Center archives include photos, films, and print material documenting American innovation over an 80-year period. New policies and procedures will be tested for digitization and public access, while immediately preserving assets at greatest risk for deterioration. The pilot project will build Art Center Archives' organizational capacity to ensure that the history of American innovation and imagination can be told for years to come
