Sociology, then, is the Science that seeks the limits of Chance in human conduct.
- W.E.B. Du Bois
For archival information on the original People’s Institute, please visit the Cooper Union Digital Archive below.
The People's Institute was originall founded in 1897. It ran educational programs, facilitated civically engaged projects, and was a hub for experimental and humanistically focused educational initiatives, serving approximately +95,000 at its peak. Work in the Cooper Union archives revealed that the original governance of the institute was directly informed by The Cooper Union's charter. The People’s
Institute survives as the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), having evolved from the Department of Social Philosophy through the former Division of Public Affairs.
Founder of the Henry Street Settlement, Lillian Wald, was also on the founding advisory council of The People's Institute. Through this connection, a proposal to revive the Institute was put forward in 2024. That mechanism would encompass a collaboration between The Cooper Union and Henry Street Settlement. This new faculty initiative - The People’s Institute for the Advancement of Science and Art (PASA) - revives a material connection between the Humanities and Social Sciences as studied at The Cooper Union, and creative research in the larger community, by connecting The Cooper Union and its Library/Archives with Abrons Art Center at Henry Street Settlement. As such, PASA reconnects both Cooper and Abrons to a wider community.
By codifying a collaboration between Abrons Art Center at Henry Street Settlement and The Cooper Union, the People's Institute for the Advancement of Science and Art will represent what is meant - in The Cooper Union's charter - by an interdisciplinary, community-oriented, education at the intersection of Art, Architecture, and Engineering.