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

This small collection contains mostly Illustration Department handouts. Also included are materials related to memorials for Phil Hays.

These Illustration Department files consist of files created by Phil Hays, Illustration Department Chair from 1979 to 2002. The bulk of the collection is subject files regarding sponsored projects and competitions, especially posters for organizations or events. There are a few departmental files, such as budget, policies and faculty reviews. Also included are people files which contain samples (postcards, clippings, etc.) of illustrations by department alumni and Hays’s colleagues. These materials were originally filed by the artist’s last initial, but have been separated into individual files by name. The collection also includes a small framed watercolor by alumnus Jean Paul Orpinas.

There are also many photographs, slides, and transparencies which have been removed to the photograph files. Some of the images were originally part of the subject and people files, but most are unlabeled slides of sponsored projects and alumni artwork originally housed in Hays’s photo files. The videotape cassettes of Society of Illustrators lectures have been individually cataloged (VID0001–VID0005).

The bulk of the series is subject files regarding sponsored projects and competitions, especially posters for organizations or events. There are a few departmental files, such as budget, policies and faculty reviews.

These People Files contain samples (postcards, clippings, exhibition announcements, etc.) of illustrations by department alumni and Hays’s colleagues. These materials were originally filed by the artist’s last initial, but have been separated into individual files by name.

The Artwork series includes a small framed watercolor by alumnus Jean Paul Orpinas, as well as examples of Hays's work.

The VHS videocassettes are of Society of Illustrators lectures.

This collection consists of a few files of Illustration Department Co-Chairs Gary Meyer and David Mocarski. Most of the documents seem to be collected for a 2002 departmental self-study. Also included is a poster of a lecture given by alumnus Syd Mead.

This collection consists of a few files of Illustration Department Chair Ann Field. From 2005 is a presentation introducing the rebranding of the department titled "The New Illustration". Also included is a portfolio of student work submitted to NASAD accreditation, March 2008.

The majority of the Illustration Department images depict groups of students drawing or painting under the direction of an instructor, or a teacher doing a critique; but there are also images of individual students focusing on their own work, and faculty working one-on-one with students. The students are shown working in a variety of classroom settings, usually working from art models. There are significantly more images of classes in the courtyard and in front of the Third Street campus than outside at the Pasadena site, and none of them outside the Seventh street campus.

Of special note are images that document the technical illustration courses designed during World War II with the California Institute of Technology in response to a need for easily understood equipment manuals. Although the images date from about 1950 to 1952, the photographs still highlight this temporary, but important, change in the curriculum.

Large-scale workshops given by fashion illustrators in the 1980s arranged by Department Chair Phil Hays are well-documented, including the 1983 and 1985 workshops by Antonio Lopez, and the 1987 workshop given by George Stavrinos.

The bulk of the Illustration student work photographs dates from the 1950s to the 1970s. Many include the student posed with the finished work. Individual student illustrations are of course wide ranging in subject and style, but there are some repeating types across the 35-year span: fashion illustrations, figure and head sketches.