Penn State's acclaimed art education program began in the Department of Home Economics in 1945. By 1957, it became a department in the College of Education under Viktor Lowenfeld. In 1979, it took its current shape as the Art Education Program of the School of Visual Arts within the College of Arts and Architecture. This collection is comprised of records generated by the program in each of its iterations.

This collection contains audio visual records created by Viktor Lowenfeld during the art education program's tenure in the College of Education.

Albert A. Anderson, Jr. joined the Penn State art education faculty in 1972, headed the program from 1987 to 1989, and retired in 1999. This collection contains his records and research materials, which heavily focus on aesthetic education.

Toward the middle of the 19th century, new forms of drawing manuals began to appear. One of the most important of these was unbound drawing cards, which were issued in packets with specific instructions for their use. While the cards may have been used initially for home recreational purposes, they soon found their way into the schools. This collection is comprised of exemplary representations selected by the Rare Books & Manuscripts Curator.

David B. Van Dommelen first came to Penn State in 1959 as an instructor in home art and then spent two years at the University of Maine as an assistant professor of design. He returned to Penn State in 1964 and joined the staff of the College of Home Economics as an assistant professor of family housing and home art; he was promoted to associate professor in 1966. In 1973 he was appointed associate professor of art education in the College of Education. This collection includes artwork, correspondence, and publications.

Mary E. Godfrey received a bachelor of fine arts degree from the Pratt Institute and a master's degree from Columbia University. She was a high school teacher and supervisor of art in Virginia, and then assistant state supervisor of art education for the Virginia Department of Education (1947-1957). Godfrey was hired as assistant professor of art education in 1957. At that time, she was the first full-time African American faculty member hired at Penn State. She served for 22 years. The highlights of this collection include artwork, teaching materials, classroom plans and blueprints, and photographs.

Dale B. Harris graduated from DePauw University in 1935. He received a Master of Arts and a doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota. He began his teaching career as assistant in educational psychology at the University of Minnesota and served for many years as the head of the Institute of Child Welfare. During World War II, he was on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps. Dale B. Harris became a member of the faculty of The Pennsylvania State University in 1959 when he was appointed professor of psychology in charge of the educational-developmental section of the Department of Psychology. He became head of the department in 1963, and retired July 1, 1978. This collection's strengths include international children's drawings and research study notes.

This collection contains drawings by children that were collected by Florence Goodenough, a teacher and colleague of Dale B. Harris at the University of Minnesota, as data for her research to generate intelligence tests for children. These tests were conducted nationwide, and included immigrant and Native American children. Controversial at the time and since as a narrow attempt to scale intelligence in the setting of mass education, they reflected notions of the time related to immigration and race.

Albert Hurwitz holds an MFA in theatre from Yale University, as well as a doctorate in Art Education from the Pennsylvania State University. During his career, Hurwitz was Director of Visual and Performing Arts for Newton, Massachusetts schools. He also taught art education at Harvard University, Ohio State University, Columbia University, Brandeis University, and the Massachusetts College of Art. He served as president of the International Society for Education through Art from 1975-1978, and was Chair and Graduate Director at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where he developed the Masters in Teaching (MAT) program. This collection features international children's art collected by Hurwitz through the course of his career.

Viktor Lowenfeld was born in Vienna, Austria in 1903. He fled to the United States around the time that his first English book, The Nature of Creative Activity, was published in 1939. He taught at Hampton Institute from 1939-1947 and Penn State from 1947 until his death in 1960. This collection, dating mainly from 1930-1955, includes primarily artistic source materials used to research human cognition and creativity, as well as manuscripts for Viktor Lowenfeld's books and articles. There is also some correspondence and records related to his work at The Pennsylvania State University and the Hampton Institute.

Alice Schwartz received a Ph.D. in art education in 1960 from the Pennsylvania State University, and subsequently pioneered art educational television series for children. This collection largely contains course materials from her time at Penn State, as well as documents related to Art Education at Penn State through 1982.

Mabel Spofford was an artist, educator, and school art director from Gloucester, Massachusetts. This collection contains an album of 31 black and white photographs of Penn State buildings with identifying captions pointing out architectural features that she created while enrolled in the Penn State Summer Arts Institute from 1947-1948. Also included are her class notes from the Institute, postcards sent home from Penn State, and a special issue of Art Education vol. 35 no. 6 (Nov. 1982) devoted to Viktor Lowenfeld.

Brent Wilson joined Penn State's faculty in 1974 as a professor of art education. This collection includes records related to Discipline Based Art Education, National Assessment of Educational Progress, as well as Wilson's own research. A prominent feature is his art journals.

Edwin W. Zoller was a professor of art and Assistant Director of the Center for Continuing Liberal Education at the Pennsylvania State University from 1933-1960. He was an abstract expressionist painter, who exhibited nationally and internationally. This collection includes lecture notes, photographs, correspondence, and exhibition programs.