RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection

RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection Cary Graphic Arts Collection is one of the world’s premier libraries on graphic communication history and practices.

The Cary Collection is one of the country's premier libraries on the history and practice of printing. In 1969, the Cary Collection was presented to RIT by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust as a memorial to Melbert B. Cary, Jr., together with funds to support use of the collection. Today the library houses some 20,000 volumes and a growing number of manuscripts and correspondence collections.

Also included are impressive holdings on bookbinding, papermaking, type design, calligraphy and book illustration, and a functional letterpress printing workshop.

A history of typography: from the bottom up, in thirty rapid chapters. This poster by Robert Bringhurst traces the chron...
06/15/2026

A history of typography: from the bottom up, in thirty rapid chapters. This poster by Robert Bringhurst traces the chronological history of typographical development along the outline of the Alpha and Omega characters.

Klaas van Leeuwen (1867-1935) was a Dutch painter, graphic artist, and furniture designer. He was trained in Paris and w...
06/01/2026

Klaas van Leeuwen (1867-1935) was a Dutch painter, graphic artist, and furniture designer. He was trained in Paris and went on to teach at academies in Holland. His 1907 “Letter Book for the Drafter and Craftsman” is a practical guide with mix of geometrically constructed alphabet models, printed in color.

Paramount Pictures was just starting to dominate the film industry when this 1929 pressbook for the Japanese market was ...
05/18/2026

Paramount Pictures was just starting to dominate the film industry when this 1929 pressbook for the Japanese market was produced. Printed in colorful Art Deco borders and geometric motifs that accentuate photographs of their stars. Notable is a spread for the 1928 film “Interference,” Paramount’s first all-talking motion picture. The dynamic hand-lettering in Japanese and English activates each page.

Join us for a free webinar:Innovation Meets Tradition: Ismar David and the First Hebrew Typeface Familywith Shani Avni a...
05/11/2026

Join us for a free webinar:

Innovation Meets Tradition: Ismar David and the First Hebrew Typeface Family
with Shani Avni and Kerri Steinberg

Tuesday, May 19, 2026
10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern / 18:00 UK / 20:00 Israel
Registration link: https://www.international.ucla.edu/israel/event/17627

Organized by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Co-sponsored by the RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection, Otis College of Art and Design and UCLA Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.

We are excited to welcome Paloma Núñez-Regueiro, our 2026 Stephen O. Saxe Endowed Research Fellow!Paloma Núñez-Regueir...
04/27/2026

We are excited to welcome Paloma Núñez-Regueiro, our 2026 Stephen O. Saxe Endowed Research Fellow!

Paloma Núñez-Regueiro (RIT Alumna) is a Mexican printmaker, installation artist, and art activist born in Lima, Peru, to a Mexican mother and a Chinese-Peruvian father. At age 9, the family fled to Mexico due to the guerrilla war. She discovered printmaking at the Facultad de Artes Plásticas in Xalapa, Veracruz, where she embraced this politically charged medium. She earned a BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2000. Her artistic journey continued through moves to Argentina and Mexico, where she drew inspiration from various Latin American artists. Now based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she is a resident artist at Ypsi Alloy Studios. Her work reflects her migration experiences, otherness, and identity as a woman of color.

We are excited to welcome Aggie Toppins, our 2026 Cary Research Fellow!Aggie Toppins is an Associate Professor of Commun...
04/23/2026

We are excited to welcome Aggie Toppins, our 2026 Cary Research Fellow!

Aggie Toppins is an Associate Professor of Communication Design at Washington University in St. Louis. She combines studio practice with critical writing to explore where graphics come from, what they do, and how they change over time. She is the author of Thinking Through Graphic Design History, published by Bloomsbury in 2025. She has contributed to several books and field-leading journals including Design and Culture, Design Issues, Eye, and AIGA Eye on Design. Aggie holds an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a BS from the University of Cincinnati. She lives in St. Louis with her husband Jason and their two exuberant dogs.

Join Us Tomorrow!*Dorothy Waugh: Design Pioneer, Renaissance Woman with Mark Resnick*Tuesday, April 21, 5 PMWallace Libr...
04/20/2026

Join Us Tomorrow!
*
Dorothy Waugh: Design Pioneer, Renaissance Woman with Mark Resnick
*
Tuesday, April 21, 5 PM
Wallace Library, first floor
Reception and book signing will follow in The Cary Collection on the second floor of Wallace Library
*
Dorothy Waugh’s poster campaign for the National Park Service (NPS) during the depths of the Great Depression was as trailblazing as it was masterful. The government had never before entrusted such an ambitious promotion to a solo designer, let alone a female modernist working in a male-dominated bureaucracy. Yet Waugh’s work for the bureau was just one of the many successful, diverse careers she pursued during her long life. This lecture by Mark Resnick will focus on her NPS campaign, as well as situate it within her broader story.
*
Books and prints will be available for purchase at a special discount.

Address

90 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, NY
14623

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 12pm
1pm - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 12pm
1pm - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 12pm
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Thursday 9am - 12pm
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Friday 9am - 12pm
1pm - 5pm

Telephone

+15854752408

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