In 1954, Jim Henson entered the University of Maryland as a major in studio art. The multitude of artwork that survives from this point in Jim’s career indicates that he had a colorful visual imagination, a sharp eye for detail, and a creative knack for design. As a freshman at the University of Maryland, Jim was given the opportunity hone his puppetry skills during a course in the Home Economics Department, as well as through practical experience. His earliest endeavors into television took place immediately before and during his time as an undergraduate at UMD. While a student in a puppetry class, he met fellow University of Maryland student Jane Nebel, who was an early partner in his television shows and would later become his wife.
Following a short-lived morning puppet segment on a local Washington station, Jim was hired by WRC-TV in 1955 to create a five-minute puppet show that would air twice nightly. Entitled Sam and Friends, this program earned Henson his first Emmy in 1958 – two years before his graduation from the University of Maryland. For Sam and Friends, Henson introduced many of the elements that would become mainstays of his Muppet Show aesthetic – music, zany humor, and an early Kermit as a lizard-like creature. During his time at Maryland and WRC-TV, Jim Henson began to develop innovative puppetry skills that made his Muppets life-like and expressive, and that would have a profound effect on the way puppetry would be performed for television and films.
In January 2005, The Jane Henson Foundation and The Jim Henson Legacy generously donated videos and funding to support the creation of what is now known as The Jim Henson Works at the University of Maryland. This collection makes available to UMD’s community of students, scholars, and visitors over 70 digital videos spanning 35 years of Henson’s groundbreaking work in television and film.
These full-length videos are available for viewing at public computer stations in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library, McKeldin Library, and Hornbake Library.
It’s not easy being green : and other things to consider by A brief list of books and videos about the Jim Henson available in the UM Libraries.
Of Muppets & men: the making of the Muppet show [VHS] by 
Jim Henson’s designs and doodles : a muppet sketchbook by Henson's place : the man behind the muppets [VHS] by 
Jim Henson : the works : the art, the magic, the imagination by Down at Fraggle Rock : behind the scenes [VHS] by 