The Dale R. Corson papers consist of office files, correspondence, and other material deriving chiefly from his provostship (1963-1969) and presidency of Cornell University (1963-1977). The papers illustrate the Corson administration reconstituting the University following the trauma of the 1969 student revolt and the negative publicity following the takeover of Willard Straight Hall; dealing with anti-war demonstrations and protests relative to other social and local issues; and surviving the university fiscal crisis of the early and mid 1970s. Subjects include long-range financial planning, the endowment fund, relations with trustees, and the improved functioning of the university administration; also, the Center for Environmental Quality Management, the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, the Arecibo Ionospheric Observatory, and the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory.

The papers show the growth of the Personnel Dept. and the reorganization of the central administration, and the relations between Cornell and the Ivy League and other colleges, and with several educational and philanthropic foundations, including the American Council on Education, the Association of Colleges and Universities of the State of New York, the American Association of University Professors, the Ford Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation. Similar files are concerned with university research and government funded research, and with relations with state and federal governments and corporations such as IBM and Xerox.

Major correspondents include Max Black, Derek C. Bok, W. Donald Cooke, Thomas Gold, Henry Guerlac, Nelson A. Rockefeller, L. Pearce Williams, and many others.