Series 2: Office of the Controller, 1752-1907, contains original deeds, bonds, maps, correspondence and other legal papers concerning the acquisition and disposition of Princeton University lands. Approximately one-fourth of the collection relates to the 18th century with most of the rest pertaining to the 19th century. One folder relates to 1907. The series concludes with a legal size leather bound volume, Copy of Deeds. It consists of approximately 100 handwritten pages of copies of deeds, of which many of the originals are found in this collection. However, in many cases, the handwritten transcription in Copy of Deeds is more legible than the original. (n.b.: The first folder of the series contains an annotated list of all the papers transferred from the Controller's Office to the University Archives on September 23, 1966.)

John Maclean, Jr. was the eldest of six children of John Maclean, Sr. and Phoebe Bainbridge. His father was born in Glasgow, studied for the medical profession, and became a surgeon. At 24, the elder Maclean immigrated to the United States for political reasons. He was invited to take the vacant chair of natural philosophy, which included chemistry, at the College of New Jersey, becoming the institution's first professor of chemistry. He married in 1797, and John was born on March 3, 1800. Entering the College of New Jersey as a sophomore, he graduated in 1816 as the youngest in his class. He taught for a few months in Lawrenceville, New Jersey before earning a divinity degree from the Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1818 he was appointed as a tutor of Greek at the College of New Jersey, beginning a long, varied, and devoted career at his alma mater. Four years later he was elected to fill the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy, though this did not prevent him from subsequently teaching languages and literature. Maclean also served as the College's librarian from 1824 until 1849.

Having declined the presidency of the College of New Jersey in 1758, Samuel Davies accepted it in 1759 with a reluctance akin to that of his predecessor, Jonathan Edwards. Davies, who thought that his successor, Samuel Finley, was the right man for the job, was urged to take the position, even though some of the College's trustees shared his high opinion of Finley. Born in 1724 in Summit Ridge, Delaware and educated both at home and in the Rev. Samuel Blair's seminary, Davies received his license to preach in 1746 in Newcastle, Delaware. Ordained the following year as an evangelist to Virginia, he went on to serve as the first moderator of the Presbytery of Hanover, encompassing all the Presbyterian ministers in Virginia and North Carolina. At the request of the trustees, Davies traveled to Great Britain with Gilbert Tennent in 1753 to raise funds for the College. Among other uses, the donations collected abroad served to fund the construction of Nassau Hall and the president's house. As president and professor at the College of New Jersey, he was renowned for his emphasis on public service.

While Jonathan Dickinson bears the distinction of serving as Princeton University's first president, Aaron Burr played a central part in organizing the College after its initial establishment and overseeing its move to Princeton in 1756. Burr was born in Fairfield, Connecticut in c. 1715/1716 and graduated at the head of his Yale College class in 1735. From there he moved to Newark, New Jersey to head both the Presbyterian church and a school in classics. Burr, along with Dickinson and five others, established the College of New Jersey in 1746. In 1748 Burr was named president of the college, though he had filled this office unofficially since Dickinson's death in 1747. During Burr's ten years of service he increased enrollment, raised much-needed funds, presided over the erection of Nassau Hall, and instructed the first classes of students to graduate from the College of New Jersey.

The Early Treasurer's Records are among the oldest records relating to the early history of the University. They include annual treasurer's reports, ledgers, vouchers, receipts, bills, correspondence, committee reports, and other records relating to general accounts such as repairs, purchases, or account balances for the University. Also included are financial records relating to charitable funds and individual departments as well as a large number of vouchers and receipts.

The Writings series is largely composed of publications by Viner, including offprints and copies of published articles and reports. The subjects of his publications include international finance, international relations, international trade, post-World War II economic and monetary policies, inflation, international economic cooperation, critiques of United States government policies, the history of economic thought, international economic development, and Canada's economy. The series also contains bibliographies of Viner's work, his notes and manuscripts for lectures, speeches and unpublished works, and a small amount of research materials.