The Departments and Centers series consists of the records of the various departments (and in later years, research centers) which fall under the authority of the School of Engineering. As engineering has progressed rapidly over the course of the 20th century, many of these departments have undergone changes in title, mergers, or been disbanded completely. For the purposes of description, the names used here reflect the name of the Department or Center at the date of the most recent records found in the corresponding subseries.

The Audiovisual Materials series contains photographs and other audiovisual media related to or produced by the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The Faculty Committee on the Graduate School, earlier termed the Committee on University Degrees and Fellowships (1887-1895) and the Committee on the Graduate Department (1898-1904) serves as the principal governing body for the Graduate School. Since 1910 there have been individual representatives from each department on the Committee. The Committee's activities include approval of courses and catalog information, sanctioning of fellowships and degrees, establishing qualifications for degrees, distribution of fees to faculty for service as readers, determining admission and residency policies, creating new degree programs, and coordinating requests for graduate-level course work by undergraduates and students at Princeton Theological Seminary. Of special value in this series are the statistical reports by the various deans found in the committee minutes. These include information on the number of graduate students taking various courses each semester, and admission data on applicants and those admitted which includes undergraduate schools represented and geographical distribution of the students. This series is divided into four subseries: minutes (1887-1960); memoranda to the Committee (1949-1961); reports to the faculty (1908-1969), and PhD examinations and fees (1895-1916). (Similar entries can be found in the minutes for 1887-1894.)

This series contains correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, articles, and clippings primarily from the 1930s to the 1960s. These records encompass the tenures of Deans Andrew Fleming West, Augustus Trowbridge, Luther P. Eisenhart, Hugh Stott Taylor, Donald Ross Hamilton, and Colin S. Pittendrigh and also include one report from 1980. For the most part, the series consists of subject files maintained by the Office of the Dean of the Graduate School. The bulk of these files were kept as a record series that overlapped the terms of the new and old deans; however some records of Dean West, Dean Hamilton and Dean Pittendrigh were kept separately. Deans Hamilton and Pittendrigh's records were integrated into the other Dean's files, while Dean West's records have been kept as a separate series (See Series 2). This was done because West's papers had been partially processed and consisted of chronologically organized correspondence files and writings while Deans Hamilton and Pittendrigh's files consisted primarily of subject files. Files in this series are arranged alphabetically by subject.

Printed Material is divided into four subseries: Deans' Reports to Trustees (1901-1933), Admission to Residence information (1914-1940), Forms (1900-1972); and Pamphlets and Ephemera (1878-1979). For reports to Trustees after 1940, one may consult the records of the Trustees, provided they are open. All printed material after 1979 is located in the Historical Subject Files (AC-109) under the Graduate School. The pamphlets and ephemera include materials relating to the Graduate College site controversy, the dedication of the Graduate College, regulations, entrance requirements, Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni (APGA) directories, students guides, housing, foreign students, and student rights, rules and responsibilities.

During the period from 1933 to 1952 the Dean maintained this record series that indicates which students took which courses while graduate students at Princeton. While this information is available in each student's academic record, this series provides information arranged by departments that is not available elsewhere.

The Post-2000 Accessions series documents the function of the Princeton University Graduate School, predominantly during the tenures of Dean Thomas Ziolkowski and Dean William B. Russel. The materials include reports, surveys, correspondence, financial statements, and statistics.