Parsons School of Design Fine Arts theses and student work slides
Abstract
The collection consists of 35 mm slides documenting student work as well as thesis papers by both BFA and MFA students enrolled in Parsons School of Design's Fine Arts Department. One DVD of MFA student work is also included.
Dates
- 1983-2014
Creator
- Parsons School of Design. Fine Arts Department (Degree grantor, Organization)
Extent
1.7 Cubic Feet (2 boxes, 1 DVD)
Language of Materials
English
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of visual and textual documentation of student work created in the Fine Arts Department of Parsons School of Design. New School Archives staff brought these materials together from multiple sources to form the collection.
Color slides document student projects over a roughly two decade span, although not all years are covered. Most of the slides document BFA work. There is only one folder of MFA slides from the late 1990s. According to Art, Media, and Technology Senior Office Assistant Michael Palumbo, who coordinated the transfer of the slides to the Archives, it had been the department's historical practice to retain the textual components of theses for a few years before destroying then, only retaining the visual documentation of student work.
The other primary format of documentation consists of thesis papers, the majority of which are by MFA students. BFA student papers are only present for one year. The papers represent a brief window of time in the early 2010s.
Finally, one discrete MFA thesis from 2009 is included in the collection on optical media as a DVD.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research use. Please contact archivist@newschool.edu for appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
In accordance with The New School's Intellectual Property Rights Policy, copyright is held by each thesis's respective author. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the user.
Historical note
American artist William Merritt Chase founded Parsons School of Design in 1896 as the Chase School of Art. The non-degree granting institution focused on instruction in painting, drawing, and other two-dimensional artistic practices. However, it was not until Parsons School of Design merged with the New School for Social Research that a discrete Fine Arts Department was established within the college, with an academic track culminating in a bachelor of fine arts (BFA) degree.
Parsons School of Design became affiliated with The New School in March 1970, and the 1972-1973 academic year was the first in which students could enroll in Parsons School of Design as Fine Arts majors. The 1978-1979 academic year course catalog is the earliest appearance of the MFA Fine Arts program, the first master’s degree program offered at Parsons School of Design. Students in the MFA program could choose painting, printmaking or sculpture as their focus. As of 2026, Fine Arts is a department situated in the School of Art, Media, and Technology.
The dean of Parsons School of Design, David C. Levy, is listed as the first acting chair of the BFA Fine Arts Department during the 1973-1974 academic year, replaced as acting chair by Irwin Touster in 1974. Touster would chair the department until his retirement in 1992, while Paul Resika was the founding chair of the MFA program, serving until 1990. Roger Shepherd served as department chair for both the BFA and MFA program until approximately 2003-2004, when Donald Porcaro became chair for both the BFA and MFA Program.
In 2008, Coco Fusco was appointed as chair of the BFA Fine Arts program, followed by Kianga Ford in 2012, and, in 2013, Anthony Aziz took over this position. In 2014, Donald Porcaro again served as chair for both the BFA and MFA programs. Simone Douglas served as chair of the MFA program between 2010 and 2013.
Arrangement
Files are arranged in chronological order.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The New School Archives staff formed the collection from multiple transfers and donations coordinated by Art, Media and Technology (AMT) Senior Office Assistant Michael Palumbo.
The textual (analog and digital) thesis paper compilations were the earliest transfer, in 2013. The following year, Palumbo shared the 2014 theses with the Archives via Google Drive.
Palumbo then coordinated the transfer of the student work slides from the office of AMT Manager Hien Dinh in 2019.
The only item not transferred by Palumbo is a DVD by oral history narrator and MFA student Dan Carlson given to Archives Director Wendy Scheir on the day of his oral history interview in 2010.
Processing Information
In accordance with The New School Archives retention policies, student work without dates and names was deaccessioned during processing.
- Art -- Study and teaching (Subject) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Fine arts. (Subject) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Masters theses (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Newtown Creek (Kings County-New York County, N.Y.) (Places) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Slides (photographs) (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Student projects (Type of Material) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Title
- Guide to the Parsons School of Design Fine Arts theses and student work slides
- Status
- In Process
- Author
- New School Archives and Special Collections Staff
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin