This study is an historical-philosophical analysis of art education in elementary, secondary, and normal schools in the United States from 1883 to 1910 as revealed through the Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Education Association. Its purposes are to define and describe the role, practices, and status of art education as related to or influenced by selected philosophies, psychologies, theories of learning, and research, along with other prevalent factors such as the scientific, industrial movements, and mores of the period. Art education was found in an admitted state of infancy as the period began. 1883 marked its initial separation from the Manual Training Department and first recognition as an entity. This study of its status traces growth and improvement to a point of tentative public acceptance, and re-attachment of the Art Department to the Manual Training Department as an equal partner. Evidence presented seemed to indicate that progress had been made by art education in several important ways. School administrators had recognized that art did have a legitimate role in education, and a national organization had been formed to act as a forum. A uniform course of study had been presented, and current research in mental development had …