Bard Graduate Center is devoted to the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through research, advanced degrees, exhibitions, publications, and events.

Bard Graduate Center advances the study of decorative arts, design history, and material culture through its object-centered approach to teaching, research, exhibitions, publications, and events.

At BGC, we study the human past and present through their material expressions. We focus on objects and other material forms—from those valued for their aesthetic elements to the ordinary things used in everyday life.

Our accomplished interdisciplinary faculty inspires and prepares students in our MA and PhD programs for successful careers in academia, museums, and the private sector. We bring equal intellectual rigor to our acclaimed exhibitions, award-winning catalogues and scholarly publications, and innovative public programs, and we view all of these integrated elements as vital to our curriculum.

BGC’s campus comprises a state-of-the-art academic programs building at 38 West 86th Street, a gallery at 18 West 86th Street, and a residence hall at 410 West 58th Street. A new collection study center will open at 8 West 86th Street in 2026.

Founded by Dr. Susan Weber in 1993, Bard Graduate Center has become the preeminent institute for academic research and exhibition of decorative arts, design history, and material culture. BGC is an accredited unit of Bard College and a member of the Association of Research Institutes in Art History (ARIAH).

The addition of 8 West 86th Street to Bard Graduate Center’s campus expands and enhances resources available to generations of students and scholars across the decorative arts, design history, and material culture. The four-story townhouse located in Manhattan’s Upper West Side Historic District joins other historic buildings under BGC’s care: 18 West 86th Street, home to the institution’s administrative offices and its public gallery; and 36 and 38 West 86th Street, adjoining townhouses where the institution’s library, lecture hall, digital media lab, classrooms, and academic offices are located.

Conceived as a home for the institution’s Study Collection, 8 West 86th Street provides much-needed facilities for object-based learning as an integral component of BGC’s graduate program. The project will introduce dedicated space for student exhibitions, classrooms, research, as well as storage for BGC’s holdings. An invaluable resource for BGC scholars, the institution’s Study Collection was established in 2011 and now comprises more than 3,700 donated objects in a variety of media.

Since becoming part of the community in 1993, BGC has evolved strategically and with respect to preserving the unique character of West 86th Street. The plans to restore 8 West 86th Street with a design by Susan T Rodriguez | Architecture · Design builds on BGC’s stewardship and restoration of other buildings that comprise its campus. A reflection of BGC’s commitment to honoring design history, the renovation of the 1908 structure will preserve the building’s historic façade, including recreating the original balustrade and appearance of its main entrance, which will be upgraded for ADA access. The project will also maintain the existing character of the streetscape while accommodating educational spaces of different scales with a modest expansion into the property’s backyard featuring a green roof, as well as a stepped-back, one-story addition that complements the building’s historic fabric.

The Study Collection supports BGC’s pedagogy by providing students with opportunities for hands-on, close-up examination. Its holdings include, but are not limited to, artifacts of glass, metal, ceramic, wood, plastic, textiles, and paper. The Collection has significant holdings from Europe and the Americas, Asia and the Pacific Islands, dating from the eighteenth century to the present. Modern ceramics, Indian and Southeast Asian textiles, silver, silver-plated flatware, jewelry, toys, and costume accessories are particularly well-represented. The Collection also includes nearly two hundred French and European textile samples dating from the late seventeenth century, as well as a selection of ancient objects and examples of industrial design and studio craft.

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