Soon after he was hired as Assistant Curator in 1933, Calvin S. Hathaway introduced a new system for accessioning and cataloging the collections of the Cooper Union Museum. By 1942 Hathaway had become Associate Curator, and his system was maintained by secretarial staff under the supervision of Mary A. Noon, Assistant to the Curator for Collections. Noon became Acting Head of the Museum in 1945, and in 1947 Dorothea C. Shipley was appointed Catalog Supervisor. Paul Dreschler replaced her in 1951, and Mary Blackwelder was named to the post in 1956.
Shortly after the Museum was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution Blackwelder assumed the position of Registrar, remaining until February 1975. Elizabeth Burnham was Registrar from 1976 through 1978, and Albina De Meio served in that function from 1980 through 1981. Cordelia Rose succeeded De Meio and served 1982- .
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Agency History. Record 221287
