The Department of Biology records date from 1894-present, with the bulk of materials dating between 1970 and 2000. The collection includes news releases, clippings, faculty meeting minutes, department newsletters, curriculum information, correspondence, a printed copy of the department web site, and several other department publications. There is also a small collection of glass plate negatives.

The collection of the Department of Biology has been divided into four series: Department administration, Published materials, Field Centers and Visual materials. The Department administration series contains meeting minutes, department history and profile information, faculty rosters, information on department alumni, the Mary Goddard Scholarship Fund and a subseries of Course Schedules that date from 1974-1980. The Published materials series includes several bound publications. The Field Centers series consists of files pertaining to off-site field research facilities and locations. The series contains a substantial subseries on the Kresge Environmental Education Center (KEEC) located on Fish Lake in Lapeer, Michigan that contains papers related to the purchase of the property, additions of residence and educational centers, and policies and procedures manuals. It is not complete documentation of the KEEC, but is comprehensive. The Visual materials series consists of glass plate negatives, which have been housed separately.

Given that this is one of the older departments on campus, there is little to document the department when it as known as the Department of Natural Sciences, although some of this material can be found in the papers of early Natural Science faculty.