'Multipurpose, and often with an accidental beauty, sampling formats provide a detailed view into the manufacturing processes, technological innovations, design tastes, styles, and color sensibilities of other eras.' Cooper-Hewitt is currently housing an exhibition of sample books using its own collection supplemented by the Smithsonian Institution Library's to demonstrate the relevance of physical samples to the history of design, technology and marketing. The history of such physical sample making is weighted mostly by artifacts produced in the last three hundred years to record aesthetic and industry changes in the decorative arts, but the antecedents of those samples date back to medieval artists' sample books.more...