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Life Drawing Class, c. 1910 Image courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University Archives.

The Carnegie Technical Schools opened in 1905 as a unified group of four separate schools, one of which was The School of Fine and Applied Arts. The original curriculum of architecture and interior design related courses eventually expanded to embrace music, theatre, fine arts and graphic design. The technical school heritage, however, can still be seen in the lack of distance Carnegie Mellon has traditionally placed between art, design, and the everyday life of its students. While events like the Beaux Arts Ball gave all students a chance to participate in the creation of art and costume, the corresponding ability to translate commercial design into high art became a signature style of the College of Fine Arts' most famous alumni, Andy Warhol.

College of Fine Arts (CFA)
45 linear feet of papers, 1905-99.
This collection includes records from the Dean's Office and the Architecture, Art, Design, Drama, and Music departments.

School of Applied Design
2 linear feet of papers, 1907-23.
Includes annual reports, Drama department information, and an especially strong series pertaining to the Carnegie Tech [CMU] Beaux Arts Ball. The school changed its name to College of Fine Arts in 1921.

School of Printing Management
4 linear feet of papers and publications, 1928-65.
The School of Printing Management was well known for its fine and artistic bookmaking. This collection is particularly strong in information concerning the art and science of fine printing and bookbinding. The collection contains examples from both the Laboratory Press and the Carnegie Press, both run by the department. Also includes the self-produced department yearbook, printed transcripts of various lectures given by guest speakers on the topic of printing, Christmas card designs, exhibit brochures, and several accounts of the department's history and alumni.

Robert L. Lepper Collection
8 linear feet of papers and photographic materials, 1920-89.
Lepper (1906-1991) was a Professor at the College of Fine Arts from 1930 to 1975. He was instrumental in establishing the first degree-granting School of Industrial Design at Carnegie Tech in 1934. It was the first of its kind in the country. He pursued the idea of passenger comfort in public transportation in the late 1960s with his Transit Vehicle Design project which stressed an angled seating arrangement. He taught Andy Warhol, Philip Pearlstein, and Mel Bochner. As an artist, Robert Lepper was very much influenced by the impact of the machine on society which is seen in his art work.

Robert Adrian Papers
2 linear feet of papers, 1979-87.
Information relating to many of the same projects documented in the Digital Art Exchange (DAX) collection, including preliminary organizational documents for "La Plissure du Texte," "Network Planetario," and the I.P. Sharp Associates' Artex (Artbox) artists' text network, the first of its kind in the world.

Arnold Bank Collection
41 linear feet of papers, calligraphic prints, slides, photographs, and miscellaneous materials pertaining to late Design faculty member Bank.

Lee Goldman Collection
2 linear feet of papers (oversized), including designs, photographs, and blueprints from Goldman's tenure at Corning Glass Works. Goldman (1922-) was a Design faculty member and was also Head of the Design department

Elizabeth "Bes" Kimberly Collection
3 linear feet of papers, books, photographs, and scrapbooks 1926-73.
Kimberly was an Associate Professor of Drama at CIT/CMU and a major influence on the department. Her papers include photographs and scrapbooks of CIT/CMU Drama events, notes and scrapbooks on costume design, programs from the Studio Theatre (1981-1990), a set of memoirs by CMU/CIT Drama instructor, Fred Millett (1919-1923), and personal travelogues of her trips abroad in the 1950s and 1960s.

Barry Buchanan Collection
2 linear feet of papers, 1919-1970 [bulk: 1934-1945].
Buchanan was a CMU alumni who worked in the movie industry. His papers include Circus and amusement park ephemera, a collection of catalogs of movie equipment (1920s-1950s), and personal papers pertaining to his work as a consultant for United Artists Corp. in the 1940s and 1950s. Collection is significant for the extensive notes taken by Buchanan for his Encylopedia of Theatre and Movie Slang.

American Conservatory Theatre (ACT)
.5 linear feet of papers, 1965-1970.

Association of Producing Artists (APA)
.5 linear feet of records, 1960-1970.

William Ball Papers
21 linear feet of papers, audio tapes, ephemera, photographs, and other materials, 1954-88
Ball (1931-91) was a former Carnegie Mellon Drama student and faculty member who was involved with the American Conservatory Theatre (ACT). Collection includes prompt books, memorabilia, notebooks, sketches, and ideas for plays

Scotch 'n' Soda Collection
6 linear feet of papers, audio, and visual recordings, about the student organizations' performances (1907-1999), including Pippin, Pippin. This collection contains administrative records of the club, scripts, playbills, posters, and photographs.

Barney Miller Collection
2 linear feet of scripts, 1978-79.

Carter Country Collection
3 linear feet of scripts and videotapes from this production. The show was produced by Carnegie Mellon alumnus Bud Yorkin (A'48)

What's Happening Collection
5 linear feet of scripts and videotapes from this production. The show was produced by Carnegie
Mellon alumnus Bud Yorkin (A'48).

The archives also maintains an outstanding series of production photographs documenting various CIT and CMU theatre productions from 1914 through 1988.