Educating American Designers for Industry, 1853-1903.

The industrial and democratic revolutions of the late eighteenth century transformed the dialectic between fine art and consumer culture. Recognizing that the commercially successful design maximized the machine's profit, nineteenth-century manufacturers helped found schools of design specifically to train designers for industry. In the process, institutions like the Rhode Island School of Design established fine arts collections and took on a role in the mediation of standards of taste.