Series 1: Gerald Breese Papers, 1752-1976, contains photocopies of maps and deeds, mortgages and correspondence collected by Breese concerning the transfer of tracts of land to the University. Some of Breese's research notes are also included. Most of the papers relate to transactions made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The series contains a folder on woodlots and close-in properties from 1752 to 1785, as well as digital research materials such as scanned maps, development plans, and photographs.

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.

This series consists of approximately one hundred and forty family letters, comprising some 450 pages, written on tours of Europe and the Middle East around 1840, several nicely illustrated. Includes a copius run of retained drafts of letters to Isaac Taylor, the publishers Houlston and Wright, Dr. Robert Trail, the painter Josiah Gilbert, and others, concerning publication of plates after drawings made on his tours. The present letters - many of which, written on large extended sheets of paper, are very long - display the élan of a young Englishman on the Grand Tour and provide the reader with a vivid view of Middle Eastern travel in the first half of the nineteenth century.

This series consists of approximately 250 letters received by Delarue from various European and American friends, associates, and people involved in dance and the theatre. Major correspondents include Eugene Berman, Paul Bowles, Stanislav Buzek, Alexander D. Wainwright, and Marian Hannah Winter. This series is organized alphabetically by correspondent. An autograph collection of nine letters by well-known ballet figures is included at the end.

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).

This series consists of correspondence and manuscripts. This series is organized alphabetically by author; Box 6 contains correspondence and printed catalogues about the collection, with much of the material concerning the book collection.

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.

Jonathan Edwards succeeded his son-in- law, Aaron Burr, Sr., to become the third president of the College of New Jersey in September 1757. Edwards studied theology at Yale College, preached in the Presbyterian Church, and is remembered for his belief that only the truly converted should receive Communion, rather than all baptized persons. However, his proposal along these lines led to his dismissal from the Northampton, Massachusetts Presbyterian church in 1750, after which he passed his days serving as a missionary and writing with a passion. Edwards accepted the office of president with some reluctance but continued to preach actively from the College's pulpit. He died in March 1758 after being inoculated for smallpox, just six months into his tenure. His three sons and eight daughters survived him.

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

Consists of diaries, caldendars, sketchbooks, correspondence, and ledgers.

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.

Consists of the poems, documents, and pictoral works of William Cowper.

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 Materials Institute series consists of files of Materials Institute faculty.

The Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering series consists of files of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering faculty.

The Military series consists of files of Military faculty.

The Modern Languages series consists of files of Modern Languages faculty.

The Molecular Biology series consists of files of Molecular Biology faculty.

The Music series consists of files of Music faculty.

The Philosophy series consists of files of Philosophy faculty.

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

The Physics series consists of files of Physics faculty.

The Politics series consists of files of Politics faculty.

The Princeton Environmental Institutes series consists of files of Princeton Environmental Institute faculty.

The Princeton Writing Program series consists of files of Princeton Writing Program faculty.

The Program in Dance series consists of files of Program in Dance faculty.

The Psychology series consists of files of Psychology 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 Institute for International and Regional Studies series consists of files of Institute for International and Regional Studies faculty.

The Institute for Science and Technology of Materials series consists of files of Institute for Science and Technology of Materials faculty.

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