"Largely regarded as one of the most important movements of American architecture and design, the Prairie School helped move America into the modern age. Signaling a departure from nineteenth-century formality, its practitioners sought to create buildings that were organic and would facilitate a new, progressive way of life. This guide to the treasures of the Prairie School at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts focuses not only on the museum's collection of early twentieth-century American design but also on the Institute's historic Purcell-Cutts house, one of the most significant examples of Prairie School architecture in the country. With its historic photographs, many never before published, Progressive Design in the Midwest is a combination of history, house tour, and museum guide." "The many objects in the Institute's Prairie school collection including works by Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, William Gray Purcell, and George Grant Elmslie, among others, are described in detail. Along with each piece is a list of relevant texts, exhibitions, and the historical background of the piece, as well as information about the designer."--Jacket.