Established by a grant from the Fund for Adult Education in 1951, the Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults (CSLEA) worked with universities seeking to initiate or to improve adult education programs. Its purpose was to help American higher education develop greater effectiveness and a deeper sense of responsibility for the liberal education of adults. During its tenure the Center had three directors; John S. Diekhoff (1952-1953), John B. Schwertman (1953-1956), and A.A. Liveright (1956-1968). The records include correspondence, organizational files, publication files, writings, and miscellany. Key correspondents, mostly from the Center, are James T. Carey, Alexander N. Charters, Roger DeCrow, John S. Diekhoff, C. Scott Fletcher, Freda H. Goldman, Morton Gordon, Kenneth Haygood, Cyril Orvin Houle, A. A. Liveright, Harry L. Miller, John B. Schwertman, Peter E. Siegle, Marilyn M. Vaughan, and James B. Whipple.

Records include Board of Directors’ minutes, agendas, memoranda, and reports; by-laws and articles of incorporation; committee files; conference programs; correspondence; drafts; newsletters, brochures and directories; and resolutions. Included are records from the Galaxy Conference (1969) and Wingspread Conference (1976); records of the Adult Education Action Council; and materials from UNESCO and the International Council for Adult Education, of which the Coalition is a founding member. Organizations represented include the Adult Education Association, Adult Student Personnel Association, American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, American Society for Training and Development, Association of University Evening Colleges, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, National Association of Public Continuing and Adult Education, National University Extension Association, and United States Association of Evening Students. Correspondents include Leonard P. Aries, Ray J. Ast, Alexander N. Charters, James R. Dorland, Norman D. Kurland, Charles J. Longacre, Constance J. McQueen, David Puddington, Yvonne K. Rappaport, Fran M. Spinelli, Hamilton Stillwell, Clarence H. Thompson, Willard L. Thompson, and Sandra Timmerman.

Pamphlets, journals, directories, newsletters, etc related to adult and continuing education, from the United States as well as from countries from Finland to Thailand

Papers of the American educator, consultant, lecturer, and author in the field of adult education. Collection consists of manuscripts, drafts, reports, interview tapes and transcripts, speeches, correspondence, reviews, films, memorabilia and publications that Houle collected.

Contains Knowles's personal and professional papers: biographical data, correspondence, photographs, printed and published material, scrapbooks, speeches, meeting and workshop documentation, cassette and video tapes, films, and graphics. Includes papers generated by Knowles as professor (Boston University and North Carolina State University); as member of a number of adult education organizations; as educator (workshops and seminars); and as consultant to various organizations.

Files of the American educator (1907-1984). Personal files include oral history, correspondence from and about Theodor Wilhelm, memorabilia, photographs, material on Nazi education, student papers, speeches, selected writings, some audio-visual material, etc. There are organizational records for several California education organizations as well as a number of key national adult education organizations including the Adult Education Association of the U.S.A., Association of University Evening Colleges, Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, National University Extension Association, UNESCO, and University Council on Education for Public Responsibility. There are also more than 40 subject and country files and information on meetings and conferences, and two audiorecordings.

Material collected or published by Syracuse University Publications in Continuing Education (SUPCE). Publications include original monographs as well as works from the Clearinghouse of Resources for Educators of Adults, Fund for Adult Education, the International Seminar on Adult Education, the Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults, ERIC, American Foundation for Continuing Education, the Library of Continuing Education at Syracuse University, and miscellaneous publications by notable adult educators including Alexander N. Charters, Cyril O. Houle, J. Roby Kidd, A.A. Liveright, John Ohliger, James B. Whipple, et al. There are also three boxes of administrative files.

Papers consist primarily of correspondence, planning materials and proposals related to the "University Without Walls" program at Roger Williams College in Rhode Island. There are also some reports, pamphlets, books and dissertations.