The Edith Harvey Heron Collection (1895-1980) documents the California artist's professional work and history. The collection includes watercolors, drawings, etchings, miscellaneous art, prints, newspaper articles, pamphlets, photographs, and professional records. The materials provide background information on Heron's artistic interests and development, as well as on her educational and employment history.

The contents of this series document Edith Harvey Heron's professional history and range of artistic work. Heron is best known for her watercolors depicting scenes of Northern California, which are represented here by color-pencil sketches of forest and seashore settings on the Monterey Peninsula. Of particular note are the nine black-and-white intaglio etchings of San Francisco and elsewhere. The newspaper articles, pamphlets, photographs, and professional records provide background information for researchers interested in Heron's educational and employment, as well as in the various exhibits in which her paintings were shown.

The framed watercolor, Fisherman's Hut, depicts the last dwelling in Monterey's Old Chinatown; it was painted in 1936 and donated to San Jose State University in 1973.