Collection documents the work of display and window designer Michael Cipriano for Connecticut and New York stores including sketches, business records, correspondence, and photographic materials.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents Cipriano's short professional career as a table setter and window designer for retailers in Connecticut and New York City. It consists of business records, correspondence, photographs, and colored pencil sketches for Barney's Christmas windows dating from 1988-1989. In addition, there are approximately five hundred color 35mm slides documenting window displays for Macy's Incorporated, Bloomingdale's Incorporated, Bergdorf Goodman Incorporated, and Barneys New York. The collection covers the full range of Cipriano's design career from 1983 to 1993.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series:
Series 1: Photographic Materials, 1979-1991, undated
Series 2: Client Files, 1982-1993, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Michael Louis Cipriano (August 10, 1960-October 8, 1993) was born in Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut to Michael Cipriano (1940-) and Evelyn M. Piperas (1941-2013). He studied fine art and art history at the University of Connecticut. His professional interests included costume, set, and theater design of the Art Deco, Art Moderne, and Art Nouveau styles. Prior to 1983, he did freelance displays for small shops in Connecticut. Cipriano began his professional career as a display trimmer for Macy's department store in New York in 1983. He designed for Bloomingdale's Incorporated from 1984-85, and for Bergdorf Goodman Incorporated Home Department from 1985 to 1986. Cipriano died of complications from AIDS in 1993 in New York City at the age of thirty-three.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Hills Bros. Coffee Company, Incorporated Records, NMAH.AC.0395
Estelle Ellis Papers, NMAH.AC.0423
Beverly Partridge Shopping Bag Collection, NMAH.AC.0493
Edward J. Orth Memorial Archives of the New York World's Fair, NMAH.AC.0560
Archives Center Shopping Bag Collection, NMAH.AC.0570
Dorothy Shaver Papers, NMAH.AC.0631
Landy R. Hales Papers, NMAH.AC.0906
Gene Moore, Tiffany & Company Photographs, NMAH.AC.1280
William L. Bird Holidays on Display Collection, NMAH.AC.1288
Provenance:
This collection was donated in 1993 by D. Thomas Shoemaker.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.