The Alumni Class Records contains materials pertaining to the alumni from the Classes of 1842 to 1963, from Columbia College and the School of Mines, later the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Content includes programs, menus, invitations, clippings, correspondence, and printed matter related to activities from college days to the many reunion events in the subsequent years.

The Andrew Sarris Papers are comprised of correspondence, drafts and manuscripts, clippings, printed ephemera, periodicals, monographs, photographs, and audio recordings related to the career and personal life of renowned film critic Andrew Sarris. The materials span several decades, from the inception of his career as a film critic and theorist in the mid-1950s to the last years of his long tenure at The Village Voice in the late 1980s..

The Campus Unrest Collection documents volatile events during the late 1960s and the early 1970s that occurred not only at the State University Of New York at Albany, but at other Universities as well.

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.

This collection consists primarily of letters sent to Columbia University President Grayson Kirk following the Board of Trustees' acceptance of the resignation of Assistant Professor Charles Van Doren from the Department of English on November 2, 1959.

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 collection consists of newspaper clippings, publications, correspondence, memos, meeting minutes, and promotional material related to the activities and interests of Columbia's LGBT student groups. It also contains some syllabi, reading material on homosexuality, financial statements, surveys, and a few photographs.

This collection contains records documenting Columbia University's activities slightly prior to, during and immediately following World War I. The collection consists of mostly correspondence, but also includes newspaper clippings, pamphlets, various publications, reports, photographs, service record cards, and numerous lists of Columbia men and women who served during the war.

Records documenting Columbia University's activities prior to, during and immediately following World War II represent the focus of the collection. The collection contains material generated by a variety of groups and offices on campus evidencing the varied activities undertaken by the Columbia community during this time of world crisis.

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.