The Index of American Design

A pdf of the Index of American Design is now located on our history page, located at https://bishophillheritage.org/about/history/.  The Index of American Design was the project of one of several Fine Arts Divisions in the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) from 1935 to 1942. The purpose of the project, and the accompanying publication, was to provide a visual inventory of American vernacular culture and, by implication at least, a definition of the uniqueness of the American National Identity. The Index of American Design program of the Federal Art Project produced a pictorial survey of the crafts and decorative arts of the United States from the early American colonial period to 1900

Bishop Hill Colony furniture and other objects are included in the Index of American Design. Visit the Colony Church to see the actual objects that were included in this publication.