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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1935

  • Work on this object began.

2015

2017

2025

  • You found it!

Air King Model 66 Radio Radio, 1935

This is a radio. It was designed by Harold L. van Doren and John Gordon Rideout and manufactured by Air-King Products Company, Inc.. It is dated 1935. Its medium is thermoplastic (plaskon), metal, glass, textile, electronic components. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.


This radio encapsulates both the technological innovation and economic hardship of the 1930s. In the midst of the Great Depression, Brooklyn-based firm Air-King turned to Van Doren and Rideout, members of the emergent industrial design profession, to create a product for a highly competitive market. Their design utilized compression-molded plastic, a cheaper and less labor-intensive alternative to traditional wooden housings. It was formally inspired by another of the era’s great icons: the skyscraper. Available in thirteen colors to satisfy any consumer, the Skyscraper’s stepped architectural shape and central panel depicting the globe evince the increasing roles of industrial progress and connectivity of the modern world.

This object was donated by George R. Kravis II. It is credited Gift of George R. Kravis II.

  • Textile, Big City
  • cotton.
  • Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund.
  • 2007-5-2

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Its dimensions are

H x W x D: 29.8 × 22.5 × 19.1 cm (11 3/4 × 8 7/8 × 7 1/2 in.)

Cite this object as

Air King Model 66 Radio Radio, 1935; Designed by Harold L. Van Doren (American, 1895-1957), John Gordon Rideout (American 1898-1951); Manufactured by Air-King Products Company, Inc.; thermoplastic (plaskon), metal, glass, textile, electronic components; H x W x D: 29.8 × 22.5 × 19.1 cm (11 3/4 × 8 7/8 × 7 1/2 in.); Gift of George R. Kravis II; 2018-22-20

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The World of Radio.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-3.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/404536631/ |title=Air King Model 66 Radio Radio, 1935 |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=28 July 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>