Editing Cooper Union (section)

===Development after founding===
Originally intended to be named simply "the Union", the Cooper Union began with [[adult education]] in night classes on the subjects of [[applied sciences]] and [[architectural drawing]], as well as day classes primarily intended for women on the subjects of photography, telegraphy, typewriting and [[shorthand]] in what was called the college's Female School of Design. The early institution also had a free reading room open day and night, the first in New York City<ref>{{cite web |title=Cooper Union |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cooper-Union |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=21 February 2021}}</ref> (predating the [[New York Public Library]] system),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Holleran |first1=Sam |title=Free as air and water |journal=Places Journal |date=May 2019 |issue=2019 |doi=10.22269/190507 |s2cid=189736575 |doi-access=free }}</ref> and a new four-year nighttime engineering college for men and a few women.<ref name=125anniv>{{cite book |url=http://www.notnicemusic.com/ACU84.pdf |title=At Cooper Union 125th Anniversary Special Issue |publisher=Cooper Union |year=1984 |access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://sangamithra.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/on-amateurs-and-access/ |title=On Amateurs and Access |publisher=WordPress |year=2012 |access-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref> In 1883, a five-year curriculum in [[chemistry]] was added as an alternative to the applied science (engineering) program.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Topper |first1=Robert |title=CU Chemistry and Chemical Engineering History |url=https://engfac.cooper.edu/topper/604 |access-date=12 May 2021}}</ref> A daytime engineering college was added in 1902, thanks to funds contributed by [[Andrew Carnegie]].<ref name=125anniv /> Initial board members included [[Daniel F. Tiemann]],<ref name=part201>{{cite web |url=http://library.cooper.edu/archive/annual_reports/1859-1860%20Annual%20Report%20Part%201.pdf |title=Annual report |website=library.cooper.edu |access-date=2011-10-27 |archive-date=2017-05-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502071016/http://library.cooper.edu/archive/annual_reports/1859-1860%20Annual%20Report%20Part%201.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[John E. Parsons]],<ref name=part201 /> [[Horace Greeley]] and [[William Cullen Bryant]], and those who availed themselves of the institute's courses in its early days included [[Augustus Saint-Gaudens]], [[Thomas Alva Edison]]<ref name=edison>Topper, Robert. [http://faculty.cooper.edu/topper/general/edison.html "Thomas Edison, Chemistry and Cooper Union"] on the Cooper Union website</ref> and [[William Francis Deegan]].

The Cooper Union's free classes have evolved into three schools: the School of Art, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture, and the Albert Nerken School of Engineering. Since 1859, the Cooper Union has educated thousands of artists, architects, and engineers, many of them leaders in their fields.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110804024657/http://cooper.edu/about-us/history "The Cooper Union: History"] Cooper Union website. Archived on August 4, 2011.  Retrieved October 1, 2017</ref>

After 1864 there were a few attempts to merge Cooper Union and [[Columbia University]], but these were never realized.<ref>{{cite book |last=Summerfield |first=Carol J. |title=International Dictionary of University Histories |publisher=Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers |year=1991 |pages=110–116}}</ref>

The [[Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum]], was founded in 1897 as part of Cooper Union by Sarah, Eleanor, and Amy Hewitt, granddaughters of Peter Cooper.

[[File:Cooper Union from Miller's New York as it is (14596084839).jpg|right|thumb|Cooper Union in 1876]]