While fund raising and development had always been essential functions performed by the New School president, Board of Trustees and supporters of the institution, the first department within the school administration devoted to fund raising and public relations probably formed around 1942, a time when the New School was operating at a deficit and searching for sustainable solutions. Administrators recognized the need to establish fund raising and public relations strategies. At least two outside firms were contracted during this period to launch public relations campaigns and conduct in-depth surveys about the New School.

A 1943 progress report in this collection indicates that a "meeting was held (cocktail party) in Mrs. Urban's office . . . to open the Fund Raising Campaign and to broaden the base of financial support of the School" (box 2 folder 7). Mary Urban, the second wife and widow of Joseph Urban, designer of the New School’s flagship building at 66 West Twelfth Street, was born Mary Porter Beegle (circa 1880-circa 1966) in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. She graduated from Columbia University, the Chalif School of Dancing, and studied dance with Isadora Duncan in Germany. Before her career at the New School, Urban was active in dance and theater education, including starting and developing a recreation program for the Manhattan Trade School for Girls, teaching dance and physical education at Barnard College, and publishing books and articles on dance, drama, and pageantry. When she assumed the administrative post at the New School, Mrs. Urban had already served on the New School Board of Trustees and was a member of the New School Associates, an important membership organ made up of donors and supporters of the school that had long played an important role in organizing fund raising events, special programs and lectures.

Urban, whose titles included Assistant Treasurer (1939-1941), Director of Promotion (1942), and Director of Public Relations (1943-1958), initially devoted half of her time to planning and directing fund raising activities. In her fund raising capacity, while continuing to work closely with the New School Associates and with the Board of Trustees, Urban managed campaigns and mounted direct appeals, sponsored luncheons and teas, coordinated meetings and maintained records, and managed scholarships, among other duties. Although Urban was engaged in public relations activities, her focus appears increasingly to center upon donor relations and fund raising, especially with the launch of the campaign to expand the Twelfth Street building that began in 1947 (this effort continued throughout the next decade). After she retired in the mid-1950s to devote herself to painting, Urban (who survived the 1956 sinking of the Andrea Doria) remained a member of the New School Associates and exhibited frequently at the school in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Margarete Westmann (1906?-1990?) came to the New School in 1957. She became director of Development in 1959 and served in this capacity through a period of administrative turmoil and organizational change at the school. She left her post in 1962. In 1963, the Development Office came under the leadership of Albert Landa, who had for several years headed the Office of Public Information. His appointment was part of an effort to clarify roles and eliminate redundancy between development, public relations, special events, and publicity offices. In 1968, Landa assumed the title of Vice President for Development and Public Relations, a position he would hold until 1980.