Accreditation reports submitted to both the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and to the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) provide a tremendous amount of insight into Art Center's curriculum, financial health, and administrative policies. Both draft and final versions of self studies detail such information as enrollment statistics, curriculum development, finances, education and experience of the faculty, and campus facilities (including the Library). In addition, reports filed by the accrediting agencies after site visits are also illuminating. The bulk of the material relates directly to Art Center, but two items are more general: an accreditation report which assesses its influences on universities and colleges in the West by Keith Warner for WASC (1977), and a directory of National Schools of Art (1978).

The Adams family papers consist mainly of photographs of Art Center School in the early 1950s, especially of students and faculty in classroom settings. Also included are some personal photos of Tink and Virginia's 1951 wedding, their Silverlake home, and Tink with his bonsai. Most of the faculty in the Art Center photos have been identified by Virginia Adams. Of interest are the photographs of Japanese exchange students through the JETRO program, including Kenji Ekuan. Three oversized photographs are housed separately.

Adams's correspondence concerns design work he was hired to do, mainly for Sloan's Liniment package and counter display. Virginia's correspondence consists of materials sent to her as a member of Art Center's Board of Trustees. The magazine advertisements are a varied collection torn out of magazines from the early part of the 20th century. The reminiscences about Tink's house, written by his daughter, discuss the purchase and renovation of his Silverlake home.

The plaque (box 5) was presented to Adams by Japanese designers and reads: "In appreciation of Edward A. Adams' continuous interest to educate and help Japanese designers, some of whom have enrolled in the Art Center School to become leaders in the development of design in Japan. 1965" Below the inscription is a list of names that includes some Art Center alumni.

The Advertising Department fonds is a top level archival unit that encompasses everything in the Archives created by the Advertising department. Under the fonds-level are the following collections: Advertising collection of documents and Photograph collection.

The Allen K. Saiget photographs are digital prints of a 1947 dinner party held for Art Center Photography Department faculty and students at Allen and Wayne Saiget's parents' house.

Posters designed by April Greiman, spanning her career.

This collection consists of documents, such as award certificates given to Archetype Press, project planning records, and open house invitations. There are some examples of student work, notably pages from an unpublished project of Robert Bly poems.

Some publications prior to 1989 are not technically from the Archetype Press, but are still included here, as precursors to similar projects that would eventually be produced by the Press and that department.

A large portion of this collection consists of administrative records related to the Ellwood building, Design Research Complex, and South Campus. Materials include meeting agendas and minutes, timelines, reports, and planning documents. Dana Hutt was included in many of the planning meetings for the Sinclaire Pavilion, South Campus and the Design Research Complex, and documents reflect her involvement.

Another large component of this collection consists of research. Dana Hutt did research on the Ellwood building at the Art Center Archives and Cal Poly Pomona Archives. Other research about the Ellwood building includes original documents from Peter Blake, who was an architect and close friend to Ellwood. The records include correspondence to Ellwood and his family, articles related to Ellwood, and an obituary on Ellwood by Blake. These records were given to Dana Hutt by Peter Blake for her research and to be kept by Art Center. At the time of her research on the Ellwood building, she was preparing to write a book on the history of the building. Research from Caltech related to the Wind Tunnel is also included in the collection.

Finally, the collection contains planning documents related to the L.A. Now book project, that Dana Hutt worked on with Richard Koshalek.

The Art Center (Europe) fonds is a top level archival unit that includes the Art Center (Europe) document and photographs collections.

This collection consists of various publications, mainly magazines and newsletters, published by Art Center College of Design.

This small collection consists of records from Art Center Student Government (ACSG) including meeting minutes, newsletters, and posters.

Newsletters, minutes, correspondence, photographs, and other materials document the planning activities, events and meetings of the Art Center Wives Club. The majority of the documents is the club newsletters which provide information regarding the club and its members. Often the newsletters included annual schedules, membership lists, and synopses of meeting minutes. The second largest group of materials is minutes and mostly mirrors what can be found in the newsletters. Correspondence includes letters to the general membership, thank you notes, and invitations to Art Center Wives Club events such as the new student reception and an Annual Student Faculty party. Guidelines and suggestions for how to run meetings, program schedules, and questionnaires sent to the members all provide additional insight into the club’s activities. A play script written by a club member and performed for new students, is a humorous look at the wives’ view of their husbands’ experiences at Art Center. Two photographs also document the women working on the play.

The collection contains a complete set of six Biba mail-order catalogues (1968-1969) that showcases clothing from the Biba department store in London run by Barbara Hulanicki. The catalogues were designed by John McConnell and featured different models and photographers. Also included is the 1973 Biba newspaper, commemorating the opening of the new Biba department store in Kensington.

The Bill Meriwether papers consist mainly of photographs taken by Meriwether during his years as a Photography student at Art Center. Of interest is a scrapbook with photographs of a Photography Department beach party after World War II. The letters were written by him and Will Connell and list faculty and students alphabetically and gives updates on their activities and addresses after the war scattered them. Also included are magazine articles about Art Center photography students.

The C. Orval Selders photographs are two images from his graduation day and two images from when he returned to visit Art Center 50 years later.

This collection contains photographs of the Art Center campuses in Los Angeles and Pasadena, including the grounds, exteriors and interiors of the buildings, and construction projects. Of particular note are images that document the construction of the Hillside Campus in Pasadena from 1975.

The Career and Professional Development records document their main programs and consist mostly of notices for guest speakers (especially the Business Dialogue Series), their On-Campus Recruitment program and internship program. The Administrative Files include two folders on courses the department offered to students to prepare them for their careers. The Annual Reports include statistics on job placement and internships. The Graduate Employment Survey tallies student responses regarding jobs and salaries after leaving ArtCenter. The Guest Speakers series contains announcements for the Business Dialogue Series and Career Chats. The Internships series contains information on companies who hired ArtCenter students as interns. The Mentorship series documents the department's mentor program called The Dot Exchange. The Recruitment files include information on companies that visit ArtCenter to hire newly graduated students.

The Center for the Student Experience collection consists of materials created and distributed by the CSE. The administrative files in Series 1 reflect their work with student orientations, international students, events, and the Student Leadership Award. Series 2 and 3 have student handbooks and health insurance plans respectively. Included in Series 4 of this collection are records from student organizations, except Art Center Student Government which has its own collection (RG 54.03). Series 5 contains The Installment, a typically monthly newsletter of announcements and wellness tips. Series 6 houses student-designed t-shirts that are distributed to new students at orientation.

Images from CSE-sponsored events starting in the mid-1980s can be found in the Photograph collection.