A leading figure in the development of American ready-to-wear clothing, John Weitz (1923-2002) created one of the first American signature menswear lines. Weitz was a visiting lecturer at Parsons School of Design from 1975 to 1995. The collection includes design drawings, exhibition files, scrapbooks, clippings, photographs, and audiovisual recordings of promotional campaigns, fashion shows and television commercials.

The collection consists of student work and records created or received by Joseph Marcella while studying in the Design Correlations Department (now Product Design) of Parsons School of Design from 1968 to 1970. In addition to project files for portable structures, underwater and outer space habitations, and a one-piece plastic chair, the collection includes materials documenting the first Earth Day observances at Parsons.

Julius Rudel (1921-2014) was an opera and orchestra conductor who graduated from the Mannes School of Music in 1942. He served as music director for several organizations, most notably as director and principal conductor for New York City Opera from 1957 to 1979. The collection includes annotated conducting scores, notes, a scrapbook of news clippings, programs and playbills, correspondence, biographical material, and photographs.

Laura Johnson (died 2002) was a New York City socialite and wife of Saks Fifth Avenue executive F. Raymond Johnson. The collection is primarily comprised of photographic prints and press clippings documenting her extensive wardrobe of couture clothing and active social life between the 1950s and late 1990s.

Lea Hoyt (1912-1998) received a degree in graphic design from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design) in 1933, and went on to a six decade career as a graphic and textile designer. The collection includes biographical material, correspondence, design drawings, photographs, and examples of Hoyt's work, represented by napkins and paper plates, among other items.

This collection contains 85 photographs by Leonard Freed, an American photojournalist known for his coverage of the American civil rights movement of the 1960s. The photographs include candid depictions of underrepresented American communities, the civil rights movement, and European street scenes.

The Lucie Porges fashion design papers include biographical materials, fashion sketches, fashion illustrations and fashion photographs, and teaching records. It is of a primarily professional nature, with little documentation of Porges's personal life. The primary activities documented are Porges's fashion design work for Pauline Trigère and her teaching activities at Parsons School of Design.

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.

The Mannes Camerata, founded in 1981 by Paul Echols, was Mannes College of Music's early-music ensemble. It was comprised of students, faculty, and graduates of the combined undergraduate and graduate early music programs at the Mannes, which joined The New School in 1989. The collection contains scores, schedules and program notes, photographic materials, librettos, press releases, and correspondence.