Documenting and preserving the history of the built environment means looking beyond finished buildings to the smaller, seemingly inconsequential materials that reveal how they were designed and constructed. When you decide to paint your living room, for example, it might not occur to you that the paint swatches you picked up from your local hardware store are now part of the documentation of your decision-making process to arrive at that perfect sage green. Here at the National Building Museum, the Collections Department maintains a collection of samples like this – materials used in construction and interior design such as stone, tile, carpet, paint, and glass, among many others – to better understand building and design practices throughout American history.
These material samples would likely be recognizable to many. Formica patterns have been found in homes and commercial businesses alike for almost 100 years, and visitors to most public parks have seen patterned ceramic tile. Other samples are perhaps less familiar – pieces of cast stone, like the one pictured above from Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, for example. Material samples may be dangerous, like these asbestos tile samples from Kentile, pictured below. Some are more likely to have been seen or used in commercial construction settings – such as decorative sheet metal and insulated wall panels – while others are more experimental in nature.
Regardless of where you might find them, these material samples represent choices made by the architects, designers, and owners of these spaces over time. They are also a great source of information for subjects like material processes, design innovation, color trends, and sales practices. In this collection, you will find the histories of different companies that developed and supplied these materials, as well as physical examples of the materials themselves. Primarily, this collection features examples of materials as they would be offered to potential owners, builders, tradesworkers, architects, and designers over the course of their work.
Companies represented in this collection include (but are not limited to): Kaiser Aluminum; Devoe Paint; Formica Group, Inc.; Armstrong Flooring/AHF Products, Inc.; Architectural Glass, Inc.; Kentile Floors; Pilkington Brothers Ltd.; U.S. Plywood; Blue Ridge Glass Corporation; Benedict Stone Corporation; Counter Production & Circursa; Lafarge; Mississippi Glass Company; Numetal; Sudio Gang Architects, Inc.; Fortier; Ludowici-Celadon; Plochere; Pratt & Lambert, Inc.; KoningEizenberg Architecture, Inc.; Surrell; Minton’s China Works; and S.C. Johnson & Son.
To conduct research using the Material Samples Collection, please fill out a Research Request Form. You can learn more about other collections held at the Museum by searching our online database here!