Sarah Hewitt and Eleanor Hewitt, also known as The Hewitt Sisters, were American art advocates and founders of what is today the

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile (New York City), Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. They are the granddaughters of

Peter Cooper Peter Cooper (February 12, 1791April 4, 1883) was an American industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and politician. He designed and built the first American steam locomotive, the '' Tom Thumb'', founded the Cooper Union for the Advancement of ...

, an American industrialist, inventor, philanthropist, and founder of the

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

. The sisters first established the museum on the fourth floor of the Cooper Union. They sought to foster American design and appreciation for the

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose object is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. It includes most of the arts making objects for the interiors of buildings, and interior design, but not usual ...

Biography

In addition to being the granddaughters of Peter Cooper, Sarah (1859–1930) and Eleanor (1864–1924) were the daughters of

Abram Hewitt Abram Stevens Hewitt (July 31, 1822January 18, 1903) was an American politician, educator, ironmaking industrialist, and lawyer who was mayor of New York City for two years from 1887–1888. He also twice served as a U.S. Congressman from an ...

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

of New York City from 1878 to 1888. The sisters were well educated and brought up by a family of philanthropists. By the age of sixteen, they had already begun to build their collection with the acquisition of rare textiles at auction. They continued to build their collection of decorative arts during their travels to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

and with the help of financial and familial resources. In 1897, they founded the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, to be open to the public as a place for practical learning, in which students could experience participatory learning. In 1907, they formed an advisory committee to assist them with the growth of the museum. Financier and philanthropist,

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age. As the head of the banking firm that ultimately became known ...

was a committee member and contributor to the sisters' collection. Throughout their lives, the sisters worked to provide a museum whose resources anyone could learn from and access. Neither of the sisters ever married, but instead they focused their energy on their collection and the advancement of arts and education.{{Cite web, title = Meet the Hewitts: Part ThreeCooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum {{! Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, url = http://www.cooperhewitt.org/2014/01/07/meet-the-hewitts-part-three/, website = Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, access-date = 2016-02-14

References

Cooper Union