ABSTRACT In 1937, artist László Moholy-Nagy directed a new school based on Bauhaus principles, The New Bauhaus: American School of Design, in Chicago. Although the school lasted only one year, Moholy-Nagy soon reorganized it as the School of Design in Chicago and then as the Institute of Design, which was later incorporated into the Illinois Institute of Technology. The author conducted numerous telephone and in-person interviews with teachers and students of the school to find insight into Moholy-Nagy’s teaching and working methods, the unusual pedagogy of the school across its iterations and the camaraderie and mutual support felt by the students at this exciting place and time.