Caroline, known as Lina and perhaps the grande dame of New York society, codified high society in New York through her list of approximately 400 people she considered worthy of inviting to her annual balls.

The name Astor is almost synonymous with wealth and society, partly due to Caroline Schermerhorn Astor (1830–1908)-another Schermerhorn, of a previous generation-who had married an Astor relative of John Kane’s. Her longer genealogy in the forefront of New York further improved his social status given that the Kane name, in and of itself, did not have the cachet of his Astor forebears. John (1850–1913) was the great-grandson of fur trader and real estate magnate John Jacob Astor John’s wife, the former Annie Cottenet Schermerhorn (1858–1926), hailed from a family with Dutch origins dating back to the time of New Amsterdam, which later became New York.

John Innes Kane, a couple who were strong supporters of Cooper Hewitt’s collection, were both born into the same small world of social connections, wealth, and privilege that the museum’s founders, the Hewitt Sisters, inhabited. Matthew Kennedy, Publishing Associate, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum High Style from New York’s high society Margery Masinter, Trustee, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum John Innes Kane, donors of some of Cooper Hewitt’s most important decorative art pieces. This month, Sarah Coffin, curator and head of product design and decorative arts, introduces us to Mr.

In last month’s Short Story, we feasted on dazzling jewelry designs from Cooper Hewitt’s collection.

Rococo by Sarah D. Coffin