Series 2 contains charters and bylaws and facsimiles of the same.

James McCosh was the first president since John Witherspoon who was not an alumnus of the College of New Jersey. Many similarities have been noted between the two men. Both were born in Scotland and graduated from the University of Edinburgh. Witherspoon was inaugurated in 1768, and McCosh was inaugurated one hundred years later in 1868. They died one hundred years apart, almost to the day, and like all presidents until Woodrow Wilson, both were ministers.

Series 5: Princeton-related Publications and Articles are publiched materials that have authors or publishers that are not connected to the University.

The first volume (1748-1796) is a gold mine of information about the personalities and activities of the young College of New Jersey. As these minutes date from the very beginning of the College, they address the multitude of issues and problems the trustees initially addressed. It was the era of the group decision, with the entire Board involved in solving every type of problem at their infrequent (two or three times a year) meetings. This volume is contained in two forms: the original volume (which does not circulate) and a typed transcript in two parts.

Series 1, Program Records, 1748-present, contains commencement, class day, and Service of Remembrance programs; pamphlets; schedules; valedictory and salutatory addresses; and newspaper clippings.

As president of the College of New Jersey, Samuel Finley is known for increasing enrollment and for his popularity as a teacher. Finley was born in 1715 in Armagh County, Ireland. On immigrating to America in 1734, he immediately began to educate himself with the goal of becoming a minister and was ordained in 1740 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. During his seventeen years as pastor of the church of Nottingham, Maryland, he oversaw its educational academy. Early in his career, Finley preached in a contentious manner, very much in keeping with the spirited religious revivals of the Great Awakening, but he later moderated his tone. He received an honorary degree from the University of Glasgow before becoming the fifth president of the College of New Jersey in June 1761, serving in this role until his death in July 1766.

Series 1: Diplomas from the Princeton University Archives Oversize Collection, 1749-1998 (bulk 1749-1926) consists of 183 original diplomas and photostats, as well as a small number of blank, sample or spoiled diplomas.

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 Religious Life and the Chapel series documents religious life on campus, including the programming of the chapel, the Center for Jewish Life, and the Office of Religious Life. Other topics related to the role of religion (and various faiths and denominations) on campus may also be found in this series. For a file on the dean of the chapel, see Series 3 (Administration); for materials that document local churches, see Series 29 (Princeton Area).

Series 1: Correspondence and Personal Material comprises the most voluminous series in Gillett Griffin's papers. Griffin was a prolific correspondent who often created several drafts of his letters and illustrated their salutations. Griffin filed correspondence in several different alphabetical runs. Some correspondence was also unfiled. The bulk of the letters were received by Griffin, but drafts or copies of his own letters are also present.

Consists of papers by and about Thomas Wolfe, including writings, correspondence, documents, drawings, photographs, and papers of others regarding Wolfe's work.

The Catalogues and Technical Records series consists of records in a variety of forms which convey the growth and management of the Library's main collection. The records in this series demonstrate not only the continual growth to the Library's holdings, but also developments in methods of cataloging, classifying, and shelving the collections.

The Special Programs series documents the special programs run by the University, or by organizations closely associated with the University, including summer camps, summer programs, study-away programs, Outdoor Action, and an array of other programs. Academic programs are filed in Series 2 (Academics); programs closely associated with particular centers or institutes may be found in Series 8 (Centers, Institutes, and Research).

The Friends of the Princeton University Library series consists of material that documents administrative activities of the organization and records the many events that it conducted on behalf of the library. Please see subseries descriptions for further information regarding individual subseries.

The Student Life series consists of material about students, student culture, and the day-to-day life of Princeton students. The series particularly strongly documents information about student demographic groups (such as women students, international students, and the four classes), customs and pranks, agencies, governmental bodies, and housing.

The Committees series documents the work of the various Princeton committees, task forces, advisory councils, and commissions that have worked to determine or advise University policy, procedures, or selections. Some committees represented here consist entirely of faculty or entirely of administrators, but most include some combination of faculty, students, and administrators, while a few even include staff, alumni, members of the community, and outside experts.

The Near Eastern Studies series consists of files of Near Eastern Studies faculty.

The Neuroscience Institute series consists of files of Neuroscience Institute faculty.

The Office of Population Research series consists of files of Office of Population Research faculty.

The Operations Research series consists of files of Operations Research faculty.

The Oriental Languages and Literature series consists of files of Oriental Languages and Literatures faculty.

The Oriental Studies series consists of files of Oriental Studies faculty.

The Laboratory for Bioinformatics series consists of files of Laboratory for Bioinformatics faculty.

The Latin American Studies series consists of files of Latin American Studies faculty.

The Latin series consists of files of Latin faculty.

The Lewis Center series consists of files of Lewis Center faculty.

The Lewis Sigler Center series consists of files of Lewis Sigler Center faculty.

The Library series consists of files of Library staff.

The Religion series consists of files of Religion faculty.

The Romance Languages and Literatures series consists of files of Romance Languages and Literatures faculty.

The Slavic Languages and Literatures series consists of files of Slavic Languages and Literatures faculty.