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27 designs in pencil on paper and 1 stencil cut in heavy paper. The designs include borders, corner designs, book covers, etc. The verso of one sheet contains the first page of an undated draft letter in Kathleen Munn’s hand to her mother evidently en route to Buffalo and Boston in which she mentions a visit to Elbert Hubbard’s studio in East Aurora NY, and a scheme to make money.

Notebooks document Munn’s student life in New York City and at the Art Students League Summer School in Woodstock. She recorded her lecture notes, essays containing reviews and summaries of books read, notations regarding books of interest, sketches, anatomical drawings, copies of historical works of art, poems, and occasionally ephemera. Under the tutelage of her teachers at the Art Students League – Andrew Dasburg, Max Weber, A.S. Baylinson, Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Henry L. McFee, she embraced modernism and gained exposure to literary, artistic and musical influences of her day. The notebooks show her to be an avid reader with a keen interest in the intellectual life of her time and in the artistic expression of other cultures and epochs. There is a particular delight in pattern and an underlying search for explanation and order. On the front pastedown of Notebook No. 8 she wrote, “Perfect beauty is the expression of perfect order, balance, harmony, rhythm. Beauty is a supreme instance of order intuitively felt, instinctively appreciated”. The notebooks are undated, with the exception of No. 5.

File contains drawings in charcoal on paper of figures that appear to have been executed in a life drawing class.

File contains drawings in pencil and red pencil on heavy paper containing figures and copies from the antique, with geometrical structures overlaid.

File contains miscellaneous pencil sketches and notes on paper containing rough drawings and notations, including outline drawings of Titian

File contains pencil drawings on oiled tracing paper with detailed drawings and notes on various parts of the human figure, including the bodies and faces of children.

Series consists of undated drawings that appear to be contemporary with the notebooks in Series 1 and are consistent with the usual output of an art student. Figure studies predominate, probably originating in life drawing classes with a few drawings of specific individuals and places. A number of published plates of models and statuary are included. Four experiments with print-making are also included in this series, possibly dating from 1930 when Munn attended printmaking classes at the Art Students’ League. A file of decorative patterns and one cut stencil are also included in this series. One pattern contains a draft letter to the artist’s mother on the verso, remarking on a proposed visit to Elbert Hubbard’s Roycroft studio in East Aurora, NY (Hubbard died in 1915). A money-making scheme is mentioned in the letter, perhaps revolving around the production of these stencils. Photocopies of letters written to Kathleen Munn around this time are included (originals remain in the family). Series also contains a hand-lettered sign for a sale at Munn’s Jewelry store, undated and unsigned.

File contains drawings on paper in pencil, charcoal and brush that contain studies of individuals.

File contains pencil drawings on paper that superimpose grids and angles on the human figure.

File contains pencil drawings on paper that appear to be copied from a textbook. The drawings are labeled from Plate 1 to Plate 15 and have accompanying notes, with increasingly complex geometric calculations.