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Series is divided into two subseries: Personal and Professional Correspondence. The organizational scheme was born out of the original ordering of the collection and because of time constraints and the seemingly logical arrangement, the material was left divided as it was found. An effort was made to list any significant content in all files on the folder tab. Some records were removed to the Restricted Files series and labeled with a similar file name. Attempts were made to note the removal on the outside of the Correspondence folder. Materials date from 1924 to 1978.

Bulk of the series includes accounts and correspondence related to the operation of Duke Pathological Service, Duke University School of Medicine's laboratory and pathological examinations for smaller hospitals and private physicians to aid in the diagnosis or treatment of illness or injury, or in the case of autopsy, to obtain cause of death. Account books and correspondence reveal difficulties in getting compensation for pathological services and other information about small, regional hospitals, especially in North Carolina. Materials date from 1924 to 1960.

Major topics in this series include, but are not limited to, the conception of the department (based, in part, on the Johns Hopkins model) and development of pathology research at Duke. The administrative files in this series cover topics related to the day-to-day operation of the department. They include budgets and patient statistics for both the department and Duke Hospital from the 1930s until the 1960s, the development of departmental policies and procedures which impacted the hospital and medical school, and the set-up of subspecialties within the department such as neuropathology. Staffing, equipment, and the physical plant are also covered in these administrative records. Another group within this series includes student and staff applications with evidence of the evolution of the student and staff applications process. Additionally, this series contains groups of records related to grants; research manuscripts, and prospectus; departmental and interdepartmental memos and correspondence; and visitors to department from other medical institutions. The bulk of the biographical information on Wiley D. Forbus is in a folder in this series. Materials date from 1923 to 1966.

Photos exist throughout the collection and were not removed from their original context to this series. This series was created to house photos and scrapbooks that were stored separately from other photos integrated into files within the collection or that were too large to fit within those files. Note was made on the folders within other series when photos and other materials were removed. Materials date from 1849 to 1979.