Pratt Institute is a specialized private college in New York City with campuses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Utica, New York. Pratt is one of the leading art schools in the United States and offers programs in art, architecture, fashion design, illustration, interior design, digital arts, creative writing, library science, and other areas. Pratt is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), a consortium of thirty-six leading art schools in the United States.
Charles Pratt (1830–1891) was an early pioneer of the natural oil industry in the United States. He was founder of Astral Oil Works in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, New York. He joined with his protégé Henry H.
Rogers to form Charles Pratt and Company in 1867. Both companies became part of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil in 1874.