Goldstein Museum of Design

"Working at GMD enabled me to expand my knowledge of design and its history through every exhibition. It has also given me the opportunity to practice my skills in graphic design for a real world application." - Junior, Graphic Design "Thank you for taking the time to educate my students. I polled them after we left about what they learned and their eyes got big and they all started talking at once about the things they saw." - Girl Scout leader GMD creates design learning experiences for students and designers. Founded in 1976 as the Goldstein Gallery, GMD reflects the instructional and aesthetic philosophies of Harriet and Vetta Goldstein, professors in the design department from 1910 to the late 1940s. These innovative educators were deeply influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement and believed that good design was democratic - accessible to all and found across time and cultures. GMD now supports the College of Design's academic programs of apparel design, interior design, graphic design, housing studies, retail merchandising, architecture, environmental design, and landscape architecture. Over 7,000 students, scholars, and designers annually study collection objects, visit exhibitions, and attend GMD programs. GMD is the only comprehensive academic design museum in the midwest. Through the design preserved in its nationally-known collection, GMD continues the Goldstein sisters’ model of object-based learning from their personal collection of objects and textiles. Currently, GMD’s collection contains over 26,200 objects. The 18,000 piece apparel segment is the largest and best known for its depth and quality. Other segments include 6,000 flat textiles, 2,000 decorative arts objects (including furniture), and 200 graphic design publications. GMD is located on the University’s Saint Paul campus and draws a majority of its audience from the U's students, faculty, and staff plus classes from other Twin Cities academic institutions - such as Minneapolis Community & Technical College and the College of St. Catherine. Collection objects are regularly viewed for inspiration and research by the College of Design classes plus those of other University departments, including history, art history, and theater costume design. Objects are also studied by researchers and by designers locally, nationally and internationally; included in exhibitions; and lent for other museums’ exhibitions. The collection serves as an important foundation for outreach programs developed for youth and adult learners and as a source of strong community support through donations (objects and monetary). GMD is fortunate to be located in a design-vibrant state of approximately 4.9 million people, including 2.6 million people in the Twin Cities’ metropolitan community, the source of most of GMD’s non-University audience. GMD is well supported by a nearly 300-member Friends group whose members help raise awareness of the museum and its exhibitions as well as raise money to support its operations and programs. GMD’s website (http://goldstein.design.umn.edu) connects to a broad community and will soon feature an interactive database of the collecion..