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This series contains Norman Studer's curriculum vitae, a partial autobiography, a brief biography, memorial tributes, family photographs, family records, and correspondence. The correspondence has been identified by correspondent's name only when the volume or significance warrants such separation; however, the bulk of the correspondence is arranged chronologically. Notable correspondents include Pete and Toshi Seeger and David Dunaway, Seeger's biographer as well as a former Camp Woodland camper.

Norman Studer was an educator and administrator at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School from the early 1930s until 1951. There is a relatively insignificant amount of material related to Studer's teaching activities, with the exception of a folder entitled "Slavery and the Negro Problem." The folder contains notes, bibliographies, and analyses of an educational unit Studer developed addressing the historical and cultural position of the "American Negro" in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The material documents Studer's early interest in the concept of American democracy and interracial relations, as well as his collaborative approach to the subject, which includes portions of student interviews revealing their attitudes toward African Americans, the Civil War and slavery. Also of interest is the folder entitled Our Voice, containing several copies of a student run publication featuring articles, prose, drama, poetry, and opinions of students at the Little Red School House.

Norman Studer served as the Director of the Downtown Community School from 1951 until April 1970. His daughter Joan Levine also taught at the school until 1970. This series is divided into Administration and Activities subseries.

Norman Studer, Rose Sydney, Regine Dicker (Ferber), Sara Abelson (Abramson), and Hannah Studer, founded Camp Woodland in Phoenicia, New York in 1940. Norman Studer served as camp director until 1962. A 1963 fire destroyed the camp buildings.

Unless noted, this series contains photographs and postcards taken, collected by or featuring Norman Studer. There are images from the Little Red School House, Elisabeth Irwin High School, Downtown Community School, Camp Woodland, family trips out-of-state, and various New York locations. While archivists, Studer family members and former students and campers have made identifications where possible, the majority of the photographs contain unidentified individuals or events and are undated.

This series contains audio recordings of special events and everyday activities at the Downtown Community School and Camp Woodland. The Department digitized hundreds of reel-to-reel audio recordings to date.

The film series contains nine 16mm and 8mm films, many of which record activities at Camp Woodland. Also included is a film of the 1951 graduation ceremonies at the Downtown Community School and a copy of the Jules Victor Schwerin film Indian Summer. Films 1-8 were reformatted and are available for viewing in the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives' research room. All requests to view this series should be made in advance of a researcher's visit to the Department.

This series contains all Norman Studer's writings from diaries to published articles, including posthumous reprints. There also are works co-written with others or background materials authored by other individuals, such as Camp Woodland campers. The series is sub-divided into Studer's writing and his diaries and travelogues.

The Subject Files series is an accumulation of material representing Studer's two primary interests: folklore and progressive education. Materials include notes, reprints, typescripts, news clippings, bound newspapers, journals, and writings of others. Of particular interest is a master's thesis by Marilyn Kimball entitled George Edwards: Catskill Folksinger. There is a typescript copy of "Merry Ditties: A Collection of Delectable Songs" from various traditional sources and a reprint of "Catskill Lockup Songs," both by Norman Cazden. Also located in this series is a copy of Herbert Haufrecht's "Woodland Serenade." There are three bound volumes of The New Student, a student run newspaper published and printed out of New York City during the 1920s and edited by Studer prior to his entering Columbia University.