Mitterer became curator and Professor für Steingravierkunst (professor of stone engraving), at the Ersten lithographischen Kunstanstalt (Lithographic Art Institute) at Munich, and in 1815 became its administrator. An important task of the institute was the production of suitable wall charts for schools. Printed also were templates for drawing lessons, a special concern of Mitterer. Thus, on Mitterer's initiative, drawing lessons became compulsory at all Bavarian elementary schools from 1798. On 7 November 1804, the printers, publishers, and lithographers Theobald and Geog Senefelder, by contract for an annual fee of 700
guilders, sold their own lithographic process to Mitterer's Institute, this under an agreement that the process remained secret during the life of the contract. The Institute began its work in October 1805, and for a long time, Munich was regarded as the centre for the technical perfection of lithography. The commercial success of the process, which found sales beyond the borders of Germany, contributed significantly to the financial security of the institute. Senefelder objected to this commercialization of the process and in 1806 attempted to have the Institute closed down, however, he only succeeded in having Mitterer's privilege limited to the "production and publishing of such art articles" as related to pattern books and artists' lithographs for teaching purposes. When, on 27 January 1808, the Ordinance on Land Surveying in Bavaria was published, the influential civil servant, administrator and entrepreneur for the development of Bavaria, Joseph von Utzschneider, insisted that maps be reproduced not by
copperplate engraving but by lithography. This map series was produced under Mitterer's instruction and assistance. == Published lithographic illustrations==