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).

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First row, left to right: Tessa Golsher, Catherine Whalen, Alice Winkler. Second row, left to right: Laura Allen, Deborah Krohn, Colleen Terrell, Leela Outcalt, Helen Polson, Nelson Molina, Lauren Drapala, Meredith Linn. Photo courtesy Robin Nagle.

Catherine Whalen and students from her seminar, American Collectors and Collections, which explores the history, theory, and practice of collecting in the United States from the turn of the nineteenth century to the present, visited the Molina Collection in East Harlem on December 1. Run under the auspices of the NYC Department of Sanitation, the collection is also known as the M11 Gallery or ‘Treasures in the Trash.’ The tour was hosted by Nelson Molina, the retired sanitation worker who founded the collection, and Robin Nagle, an NYU anthropologist who has been instrumental in advocating for its continuation and preservation.

Whalen said the collection sets an intriguing example for studying how collectors select, arrange, and sequence objects. “When Molina retrieves items from New York City streets,” she said, “he is already thinking about how he will present them in the space, where he carefully organizes displays that range from tables massed with objects of similar type, color, and material to humorous vignettes, such as a pair of ceramic cups decorated with winking faces placed so that they seem to eye one another.” The class observed that Molina is not only a collector but also a curator and designer, even though he prefers to describe what he does as rescuing, repairing, and reusing.

BGC faculty members Deborah Krohn and Meredith Linn also attended along with writing tutor Helen Polson. The collection is not open to the public but tours are available by special arrangement.