This collection contains documentation relating to USD 497 and to individual schools within the district, including documenting the history of schools and previous boards prior to consolidation in the 1960s. It includes school and district newsletters; meeting minutes from the Board of Education; administrative and financial documentation; photographs; scrapbooks and newspaper clippings; annual reports; Parent Teacher Association (PTA) records; yearbooks; and other related materials. The records have been organized by record type, and in some cases further organized by individual school. The collection provides a broad overview of the history of education in Douglas County, Kansas from the territorial era when Euro-Americans began settling the area to the present era.

The collection has been accrued by Kenneth Spencer Research Library over time, and additions have also been processed over time. Therefore materials of a particular format or on a particular theme may be located at several different call numbers in the collection. Audiovisual material and oversize materials have been cataloged separately; information about audiovisual items is available at the end of the finding aid, and oversize materials are typically described in relation to the series in which they belong.