The collection consists of records of Nesbitt College of Design Arts and its predecessor departments from 1894-1993. The collection is divided into fourteen series: Accreditation and Teacher Certification, Administration, Associate Dean Lois Pearson, Dean Marjorie Rankin, Domestic Science Archive, Early Childhood Learning Center, Events, Fundraising, Histories, Honors Day, Kappa Omicron Nu Honors Society, Promotional Materials, Publications and Recipes. All are arranged alphabetically unless noted.

The Accreditation and Teacher Certification series contains self-studies and reports submitted by the college for review by the Home Economics Association of America (AHEA), the Middles States Association, the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, and the Pennsylvania Board of Education, as well as evaluations and responses.

The Administration series contains administrative files of the college, including the subseries Annual Reports (1924-1977), lists of graduates and theses, faculty meeting minutes and faculty/staff organizational charts.

Two of the series are comprised of records of Deans of the College. Associate Dean Lois Pearson’s series contains items compiled by the Associate Dean of the Nesbitt College including biographical information on University presidents, histories and mission statements of the college, and important papers in the fields of Home Economics and Design. Other files in the series were created by Pearson, including papers and projects that Associate Dean Pearson wrote and contributed to. The series of Dean Marjorie Rankin’s records also includes items both collected by and created by Dean Rankin, whose involvement with the college began in 1946 as a faculty member and lasted until 1984, when she retired from the college as dean. These include papers, reports, and correspondence.

The series, Domestic Science Archive, contains correspondence by Dean Stratton about several musical instruments donated to the Institute by A.J. Drexel. The series also contains clippings and papers written about the school's tapestry collection. There are two photographs of the Drexel campus as well, including one of Nesbitt Hall.

The Early Childhood Learning Center series includes brochures, histories, and information on the ECLC, which was a nursery school and childcare center from 1930-1988. The series is arranged alphabetically. There is also a chronologically arranged subseries, Photographs, which includes scrapbooks and photos of the ECLC and its participants.

The Events series contains information, invitations, and correspondence on major events sponsored by the college. This series also contains files that were compiled by faculty and staff of the college regarding university-wide events.

The series Fundraising similarly contains information, correspondence, and reports on campaigns run by the college as well as on some university-wide campaigns.

The Histories series contains papers on the evolution of the college as well as collected materials for such papers. Some files, like History of the Drexel Institute, contain materials collected by the college for submission to papers on the University's history.

The Promotional Materials series includes brochures, fact sheets and mass mailings used to market the College of Home Economics and Nesbitt College of Design Arts.

The series Publications includes journals and newsletters published by Nesbitt College for its students and alumni, such as Update, as well as some publications, such as TIES, for external audiences.

The series Recipes contains cookery cards produced by the College of Home Economics for its students, as well as notebooks of students and faculty from as early as 1897. Many of these items belonged to Ellen Morris, student and eventual faculty member in the Domestic Arts program. The series also contains several cookbooks, some of which were published by the Drexel Institute. This series is arranged by class/course, with cookbooks following alphabetically.