The Mary W. Kauper records include materials from Kauper's years as executive assistant to the University President John W. Porter from 1980-1986. The bulk of the material is administrative planning materials and rough drafts of public records pertaining to commencements, honors convocations, honorary degrees, and building dedications, the areas for which Kauper was responsible for coordinating.

The Mary Kauper records have been divided into seven series: Honors Convocation, Commencement Committee, Commencements, Nursing school graduation, Honorary Degrees and Building Dedications. Materials in the first six series are arranged in chronological order and filed by year.

The Building Dedications series includes materials for the following buildings on campus: Library (now Porter Education Building), Jefferson Science building, Alexander Music building, and Olds Student Recreation building. Additionally, there is materials pertaining to the dedication of the Artrain in Ypsilanti.

There are materials in the collection that pre-date both John W. Porter's tenure as University President and Kauper's tenure as the executive assistant to Porter. Additionally, there are no materials from 1984-1986 that would document the last two years of Kauper's tenure with the University or materials documenting her work as chair of the Washtenaw United Way Campaign for the University.