The Subject File Photograph Collection comprises photographic items documenting student groups (i.e., fraternities, sororities, clubs), the Aurora (campus newspaper), campus buildings and structures, departments, and events. The campus building and structure photographs focus on university buildings including residence and classroom halls, a stadium, and the student center. Campus structures include the natural science gardens and fountain. Most of the building photographs taken during the last 40 years and some of the campus structures photographs are from the 1910s and 1920s. The remaining categories such as the student groups, the Aurora, departments and events, focus on campus life of both students and faculty, with most images depicting people. The bulk of these photographs were taken during the 1950s-1960s, with known representation also from the early 1920s and the 1980s-1990s.

The photographs in the collection do a good job of representing campus life in terms of both infrastructure and people during the timeframes the photographs were taken. However, not all eras are equally represented, and not all subjects in the Subject File Collection contained photographs to be removed and placed within this collection. Thus, there are both chronological and subject gaps within the collection.