Ralph Caplan Collection

Abstract

Ralph Caplan (1925–2020) was a design critic and design consultant. He began his career in 1957 as a writer for I.D. magazine (then called "Industrial Design"), becoming editor in 1959, a position he held until 1963. Caplan continued to write design criticism for I.D. and several other periodicals. He taught design criticism at the School of Visual Arts from 2009 to 2013. The bulk of the collection comprises notes and drafts (and some research materials) for articles, talks, and speeches (plus related correspondence and printed material). Also included are published work in several periodicals and in printed material for various clients.

Date

1959 – 2016

General Physical Description

Six document boxes, one oversize folder.

Scope and Contents

The bulk of the collection comprises notes and drafts (and some research materials) for articles, talks, and speeches (plus related correspondence and printed material). Notable works include the keynote for the 2004 Cooper-Hewitt Summer Design Institute, speeches for Haystack Mountain School of Craft Symposia (including a monograph, "Making More than Sense"), Noah's Archive (his monthly column for VOICE, AIGA's journal of design), and research and notes and drafts for catalog essay Smithsonian's "Connections: The Work of Charles and Ray Eames." Published work for periodicals include tearsheets, bound issues of I.D. from his early years at the publication, and single issues of various serial publications that include writing by Caplan. Additionally, the collection includes miscellaneous printed material with copy by Caplan, including work for Herman Miller, Champion Paper, the Industrial Designers Society of America, and the Walker Art Center. A handful of conference materials from a few meetings of the IDCA, including notes and drafts for talks presented by Caplan at the conference, are included in the collection.

Biographical and Historical Note

Ralph Caplan (1925–2020) was a design critic and consultant for the likes of Herman Miller, IBM, and CBS. He is notable for having suggested the sit-in as the best example of contemporary design at the 1964 International Design Conference in Aspen. He began his career in 1957 as a writer for I.D. magazine (then called "Industrial Design"), becoming editor in 1959, a position he held until 1963. Caplan continued to write design criticism for I.D. and several other periodicals.

In 1968, he served as editorial director for the report, Rights in Conflict, produced by the Chicago Study Team of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, better known as "the Walker Report," which investigated the causes and aftermath of the violence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

His books include “The Design of Herman Miller” (1976), “By Design: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louis XIV and Other Object Lessons” (1982) and “Cracking the Whip: Essays on Design and Its Side Effects” (2005).

He taught design criticism at the School of Visual Arts from 2009 to 2013.

Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Citation

Ralph Caplan Collection, [series. item]. Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives, Visual Arts Foundation, New York.

Acquisition Information

The Ralph Caplan Collection was acquired as a gift from Judith Ramquist.