Seymour Robins Papers
name: label: Creator
content: Robins, Seymour, 1913-2011
label: Names
content: AT & T (Firm)
label: Names
content: Cooper-Hewitt Design Archive
label: Names
content: Creative playthings, Inc.
label: Names
content: Diamond International Corporation
label: Names
content: Genesco, Inc.
label: Names
content: Kimberly-Clark Corporation
label: Names
content: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Mohawk Paper Mills (Cohoes, N.Y.)
label: Names
content: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
label: Names
content: Neenah Paper (Firm)
label: Names
content: Philadelphia Museum of Art
label: Names
content: Smithsonian Institution
label: Names
content: Whitney Museum of American Art
topic: label: Occupation
content: Industrial designers -- United States
label: Topic
content: Design, Industrial -- Sources -- History -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Graphic arts -- Sources -- History -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Paper
label: Topic
content: Paper art
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: All materials were donated by Mr. Robins in 1992 to the Cooper Hewitt Museum.  and transferred to the Archives Center in 2012.
creator: label: Creator
content: Robins, Seymour, 1913-2011
setName: label: See more items in
content: Seymour Robins Papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection documents Robins' work as a graphic and industrial designer for the Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Seymour (Rabinowitz) Robins, a graphic and industrial designer, was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada on June 5, 1913, to David Rabinowitz (September 28, 1883 - June 27, 1950) and Dora Pellman (December 24,1885 - September 1976).  He lived most of his life in New York City where he had a design practice. Although locking together slotted pieces of paper had been done for many years, in the two decades that Robins designed these shapes that became forms when opened, he developed them into a unique art form. He did successful design work for AT&T, Incorporated; Diamond International, Corporation; Genesco, Incorporated; Mohawk Paper Mills; Neenah Paper; Creative Playthings; and other major American companies. In addition, he did work for cultural institutions including the complex and precise Armillary Sphere for the Smithsonian Institution and paper sculptures for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Philadelphia Museum, and others. Over the years his demands and guidance for perfection in production had forced graphic arts suppliers into innovative improvements that have raised the level of die-makers' and the die-cutters' crafts. Robins work appeared regularly in international design journals. He moved to Sheffield, Massachusetts where he converted a barn into a studio and home. Seymour (Rabinowitz) Robins died of natural causes on April 10, 2011, in Lenox, Berkshire County, Massachusetts at the age of ninety-seven.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.5 Cubic feet (1 box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1978-1984
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Collection transferred from the Cooper Hewitt Museum to the Archives Center in 2012.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1270
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Trade catalogs
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Vanessa Broussard Simmons, archivist, 2024.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Trade catalogs
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection documents Robins' work as a graphic and industrial designer and includes project catalogs for Mohawk Paper Mills and Neenah Paper, a division of Kimberly-Clark. The materials are arranged in chronological order.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History


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Lockwood Greene Records, NMAH.AC.1113


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Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution


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Richard E. Filipowski Papers, AAA.filirich


Antonin Heythum Papers, AAA.heytanto


Paul Hollister Papers, AAA.hollpaul


Dorothy Liebes Papers, AAA.liebdoro


Viktor Schreckengost Papers, AAA.schrvikt


Charles Sheeler Papers, AAA.sheechar


John Vassos Papers, 1898-1985, AAA.vassjohn

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Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Exhibitions, Exhibition Records, SIA.FA10-061


Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Department of Applied Arts and Industrial Design, Records,
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