These records date from 1928 to 1984, with the bulk of the material covering the 1960s through the 1980s. They provide a picture of the day-to-day operations of the Department, its relationship to the rest of the University, and its staff and students. As far as possible, the original organization into file folders has been maintained.



The bulk of the collection consists of Student Records, especially those of graduate students.  This series also contains lists of students in the Department and some essays written as part of the requirements for the A.M. (Teaching) degree. Another sizable series is Personnel, which contains information on faculty and staff positions and those who filled them. Included here are applications for possible openings in the Department.



The Subject Files Series replicates the Department's own system of such files. Many files bearing the rubric of Arts and Sciences contain material on the ongoing attempts of the University to restructure its curriculum and programs. A large part of this series consists of minutes of meetings of the Arts and Sciences Executive Faculty (later Executive Committee) and department Chairmen.



Another substantial series is Project COVE, which contains the alumni survey undertaken in 1976 by the Department as part of its Lilly Foundation COVE grant. The returned questionnaires are grouped by employment field as well as chronologically.



Other important series include the Minutes of Departmental meetings, Chairman's Office files, and Departmental Review, which records the results of three studies of the Department carried out in 1979. The Examinations Series contains questions on various fields of history for use in master's and doctoral examinations, while the Budget Series illuminates the financial situation of the Department.