RIT

The 1903 Syracuse, New York, Arts and Crafts Exhibition is a signature event in the Movement’s history. But were it not for what else happened, the exhibition could be dismissed for what it was: Gustav Stickley’s self-serving, shameless shilling for his hometown United Crafts furniture enterprise. Following a twelve-day run in Stickley’s salesrooms, the exhibition moved ninety miles west to Mechanics Institute in Rochester. Stickley’s traveling exhibit predates by a decade what is usually acknowledged as the first art exhibition held at multiple venues, the New York Armory Show.

Coming of Age describes the formation of RIT’s Center for Imaging Science (CIS) from its inception in the early 1980s to its current reputation as a nationally recognized research facility. CIS awarded RIT’s first Ph.D. in 1993. The program helped transform RIT from a teaching university to a research institute. Dr. John Schott narrates the history of the Center for Imaging Science, accompanied by archival photographs, and highlights significant milestones in CIS history.

A Shining Beacon highlights the first fifty years of the world’s first and largest technological college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students: the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology. From its early days in 1968 to its fiftieth anniversary, NTID has graduated more than 8,000 alumni and has transformed the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students forever. Seen through the perspectives of selected contributors, A Shining Beacon illuminates the multifaceted experiences of NTID’s students, faculty and staff.

The focus of Jeannette Klute’s career at Eastman Kodak Company was on new discoveries in color photography, in particular, the Dye Transfer color process. Klute adopted the laborious Dye Transfer process in the interest of highlighting landscape and natural settings. She promoted environmental concerns in her views, joining a small group of landscape modernists including Elliot Porter, who chose the new aesthetics of advanced color technology over the conventional appearance of black and white nature settings.