The collection consists of Caroline Loretz Whiting's (later, Caroline Whiting Fellows) notebooks from her studies at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design), which spanned 1922-1925. According to enrollment records in The New School's Office of the Registrar, she attended classes at the school's New York campus from October 1922 until May 1924, and then again for the Spring 2025 semester (beginning March 16) at the Paris campus, receiving a diploma in July of that year.

The notebooks are hand-written in a distinctive, looping script that researchers may experience difficulty deciphering. Media present in the notebooks are pencil, ink, and watercolor.

The earliest notebook appears to cover Whiting's first academic year and includes notes from Frank Alvah Parsons's book, The Art Appeal in Display Advertising, hand lettering exercises, visual research on traditional Peruvian design and folk art motifs, tracings of European historical costume, notes on perspective and color, and copies of classical portraits in watercolor. This notebook also contains notes from a Frank Alvah Parsons lecture, likely from January 1923.

The second notebook, the more voluminous of the two, focuses on French history and culture. William M. Odom is identified as a lecturer on several pages. The notebook begins with a list titled, "Rulers of France," followed by an outline of historical periods in French history, and a series of photographic reproductions of churches and cathedrals affixed to the notebook paper and identified by location. The remainder of the notebook is organized by historical periods (Medieval, Renaissance, Louis XIV and XV, etc.) with notes on historical costume, furniture and architectural styles of each period. The notebook has an illustrated section featuring different chateaux (castles), and ends with pencil tracings of historical costume and architectural elements. It is unclear in which year of her studies Whiting kept this notebook. As William M. Odom held the title, Director of European Schools, for the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, it is possible but unconfirmed that this notebook dates from Whiting's time in Paris in the first half of 1925.