The collection includes class notes and a clipbook of decorative styles compiled by Ethel Epstein (who later used the surnames Dean and Evans) when she attended the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later Parsons School of Design) in the Interior Architecture and Decoration Department, around 1925. Also includes textile samples, circa the 1950s, and costume designs for the Broadway play "The Laughing Woman" (1936).

Francis Geck (1900-2005) graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design) in 1924 and taught interior design at the school's Paris Ateliers until 1927. In 1930, Geck became a professor of fine arts at University of Colorado, where he taught for 39 years. The papers contain correspondence with Parsons administrators, design sketches and student work, publications, and course materials.

Frank Alvah Parsons (1866-1930) began as an instructor at the New York School of Art in 1904. He became director in 1911, renaming the school the New York School of Fine and Applied Art to reflect his reorientation of the institution toward practical design disciplines. The school was later renamed to honor his leadership. The collection consists of published editions of Parsons' lectures, and prints he used to illustrate them.

The collection consists of student work and related documents kept by Ina Dell Marvin (1893-1991) while studying in the Paris Ateliers of the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (now, Parsons School of Design). Includes class reference materials, clip books, correspondence, diploma, London itinerary, lecture notes, photographs and renderings of furniture, decorative pieces, and interiors.

The collection consists of Jeanette Olliver's student work in the form of lecture notes, detail sketches and course materials, representing her work in the Parsons School of Design Interior Architecture and Decoration Department in the early 1940s.

Luis Rey graduated from the Interior Design Department of Parsons School of Design in 1967. The collection consists of student projects, primarily in the form of drawings and plans, executed by Rey for his courses between 1964 and 1967.

Lyman Martin (1908-2003) graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1939 and joined Thedlow, an interior decoration firm. At Thedlow, Martin created interiors and watercolor renderings, and designed rugs and murals. In 1969, Martin became president of Thedlow, remaining until its closure in 1979. The collection includes student work, interior drawings, a travel diary, floorplans, photographs, clippings, and exhibition files.

Named one of Architectural Digest’s top 100 designers in 1990 and 2002, Melvin Dwork (1922-2016) attended Parsons School of Design in the 1940s, and later served on the Parsons Advisory Committee. The collection (1920-2012) includes student work, slides, photographs, plans, drawings, news clippings, press releases, brochures, showroom catalogs, personal correspondence and awards.

Parsons School of Design was established in 1896 and became affiliated with The New School as the university's art and design college in 1970. New School Archives staff assembled this collection of audiovisual materials, exhibition catalogs, posters, publications, student work, and other formats from departmental transfers and personal donations by Parsons School of Design faculty, students and administrative staff beginning in 2009.

The Parsons School of Design Centenary Oral History Project consists of recorded sound interviews with twelve individuals as well as two audio monologues by the project's manager, Martica Sawin. The interviews, recorded in 1994, cover the history of different academic departments and design disciplines over the course of the twentieth century as experienced by former and then-current instructors and administrators. Recordings are all in English.