This collection contains the records of the College of Engineering between 1930 and 1990, with a bulk of the materials created between 1956 and 1973. The collection is made up of reports, correspondence, manuals, meeting minutes, and grant and program proposals. Approximately a third of the collection is Dean LeRoy A. Brothers’ files, which are mainly correspondence relating to his operational duties as Dean. There are some files that are of a more personal nature and/or are unrelated to the college. There is also a large amount of information related to the development of programs within the college, the curriculum, and faculty and student research projects. These activities are well documented in the annual reports, department heads and faculty meeting minutes, grant award letters, program materials, research proposals, and correspondence from Brothers and the office of the Dean. This collection is of great research value as it evidences a period of the College of Engineering that was previously not well documented.

The collection is divided into seven series: “Reports,” “Accreditation Records,” “Program Material,” “Meeting Minutes,” “Engineering Education Organizations,” “Dean LeRoy A. Brothers subject and departmental files,” and “Correspondence.”

The first series, “Reports”, contains monthly and/or annual reports describing the resources and activities of the College of Engineering and its various departments. The series is divided into three subseries; “Annual Reports,” “Accreditation Reports” and “Other Reports.” The Annual Reports are arranged alphabetically by creative body and then chronologically within those groups. There are annual reports for the College of Engineering from 1947 to 1974, the College of Science from 1982 to 1983, the Chemistry Department from 1930 to 1962, Center for Insulation Technology for 1985, and Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Department from 1979 and 1983. The Accreditation Reports are arranged in chronological order from 1951 to 1966, and include reports from the Civil Engineering department for the academic year 1951/1952 and the Mechanical Engineering department from 1962. In addition, there is an undergraduate curriculum review from 1962, a proposal for enrollment analysis from 1962, and Engineering faculty personal data forms from 1966. Other reports included in this series are an undated report of "deferred gifts and prospects" and material related to the composition of the Annual Report to the Alumni of the College of Engineering and Science.

The second series, “Accreditation Records”, includes questionnaires created by the Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD) and the reports created by Drexel Institute of Technology in reply to the questionnaire from the ECPD Education Committee. The series is arranged in chronological order and contains records created between 1956 and 1990.

The third series, “Academic Program Material”, includes material created by the College of Engineering, and four departments within the college: Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Materials Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics Departments from 1961 to 1990. This series provides insight into the innovation and creativity of the College of Engineering personnel, and opportunities made available to the College as a result of its alliance with various external organizations and government agencies. The series includes research proposals, program proposals, grant proposals, program development materials, departmental records and some student work. The series is arranged alphabetically by creative department, and then chronologically within those groups.

The fourth series, “Meeting Minutes”, is divided into two subseries: Department Heads meetings, containing minutes from 1959 to 1968; and Faculty meetings, containing meeting minutes from the 1936/1937 academic year and 1949 to 1967. The series is arranged chronologically.

The fifth series, “Engineering education organizations", contains records created by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Association of Engineering Colleges of Pennsylvania (AECP), and the Engineering College Administrative Council (ECAC) from 1961 to 1967. The ASEE materials are mostly proceedings of annual and regular meetings of the organization, and handwritten notes taken at the meetings. These papers provide evidence of the organization's mission and goals and its attempts to actualize these goals. The AECP materials are merely a group of institutional surveys sent to and completed by Drexel Institute of Technology. The ECAC material gives evidence of the work of the organization's Committee for the Analysis of Engineering Enrollment. This is elucidated by proposals and memoranda, and intra-organizational correspondence. This subseries also includes a set of bound correspondence from 1961 through 1963. Each binder treats a different subject, and is called an “Index of Correspondence.” The correspondence is arranged chronologically within each binder. The series is arranged alphabetically by organization, and then chronologically within those groups.

The sixth series, “Dean LeRoy A. Brothers subject and departmental files”, is mostly a collection of correspondence between Brothers and various Drexel affiliates, spanning 1955 to 1969. General topics addressed in the series include the activities of the various departments within the College of Engineering; consortial projects with other institutions; the National Institute of Health; and program development and evaluation. The series is arranged alphabetically by subject and/or correspondent and is in original order. Generally, folder titles represent either the subject of the correspondence or the person/institution the correspondence is with. Because this collection was minimally processed, folder titles were not changed and dates for folders were not extracted. It was noted that some folder titles are misleading and some contain information that is only loosely related to the title.

The seventh series, “Correspondence”, houses a central file used for collecting copies of outgoing correspondence. Files contain unrelated communications to a wide variety of recipients, covering a broad range of topics. The correspondence contained in this series originated from the Office of the Dean and was sent to various recipients among the Drexel administration, the faculty and student bodies. The original order of this series has been preserved. This series is arranged chronologically and contains material from January of 1964 to December of 1973, with gaps from January of 1965 to April of 1966 and from June of 1966 to December of 1966.