Consists of five record series: Biographical File, 1899-1955; Correspondence, 1930-38; Field Notebooks, Aug. 4, 1899-Oct. 16, 1923 (No. 1-7); Miscellaneous File, 1900-1930s, n.d.; and, Writings File, 1919-35, n.d. The most important series is represented by the seven volumes of field notebooks covering surveys of properties in Oberlin, including those in-and-around the College campus and those properties on Edgemere and Reamer Streets. A great many of the pages are vacant.

The 1930-38 correspondence, numbering only ten items, largely relates to his work as Secretary-Treasurer of the American Mathematical Society. Probably the most significant letter, dated Dec. 1, 1934, is from R.H. Stetson in which he discusses instruction and the uses of "'demonstration' material in college teaching." Two folders of documents constitute miscellaneous material withdrawn from the field books. The "Writings File" contains reprints of several of Cairns' articles in mathematical journals.

Finally, the Biographical File constitutes the least important series unit. It should be supplemented by reading Cairns' staff folder in the Alumni Records (28/3).

W. D. Cairns faculty folder in RG 28.

The Oberlin College Library holds Cairns' doctoral dissertation Die anwendung der Integralgleichungen auf die zweite Variation bei isoperimetrischen Problemen (Gottingen: Kaestner, 1907) on integral calculus.