Central Files is composed chiefly of correspondence sent and received between Columbia University administrators and other University officers, faculty, and trustees, as well as correspondence sent and received between University administrators and individuals and organizations from outside the university.

The surviving files of official correspondence, reports, documents, and printed materials of King's College from 1750 to 1784 and Columbia College from 1785 to 1890, as well as Columbia University up to 1964. The King's College era materials include grants, deeds, indentures, lists of governors, leases, accounts, etc. The Columbia College era papers commence with documentation regarding the attempts to revive the college at the end of the American Revolution. In the later period these papers primarily supplement and document the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees. Much material was destroyed and scattered in the late 19th century leaving this collection quite incomplete.

The records in the collection reflect the Department's mission and its daily operations. The materials contained within it include exhibition proposals, catalogs and posters, photographs, general correspondence, and other administrative files.

Correspondence, memoranda, reports, notes, committee minutes, student information cards, pamphlets, flyers, and announcements relating to the Office of the Dean and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

The materials that comprise the Historical Biographical Files have been collected and added to from a variety of sources over the years by current and previous staff. The files consist of materials related to people who have a connection to the University whether as student, alumni, administrator, faculty, staff, guest lecturer, or honorary degree recipient. Materials generally consist of newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, programs, ephemera, printed matter, lists, reports, and pamphlets.

The Historical Photo Collection contains images of persons, events, and activities associated with Columbia College (1754-1896) and Columbia University (1896-).

The Historical Subject Files Collection documents Columbia University history and related topics from 1754 to the present. The collection includes articles, booklets, clippings, correspondence, memoranda, non-photographic images, notes, pamphlets, posters, press releases, programs and reports.

Collection of black and white photographs depicting campus activities, individuals, and student life taken by John K. Mladinov, an undergraduate student enrolled at Columbia University between 1939 and 1942.

This collection contains photographs and contact sheets of alumni, faculty and student life taken expressly for a 1980s admissions brochure, capital campaign brochures in the 1990s and the Columbia alumni magazine in the 1980s through early 2000s. Additionally, there are reproductions of photographs and illustrations dating prior to the late 1970s which were used in the magazine.

This collection contains the records of the Trustee and other committees in charge of finding a new University President. The records include the search for the replacements for Presidents Nicholas Murray Butler (1945), Grayson Kirk (1968), William J. McGill (1979), Michael I. Sovern (1992) and George Rupp (2001).