The records of the Oberlin College Museum, 1877-1964, include correspondence, inventories, an accession book, and a catalogue that contains information relating to the acquisition of specimens for the natural history museum. The Accession Book covers the period 1855-1949 and contains entries that include the name of the donor, date received, a description of the specimen, and the accession number. The correspondence files contain letters from individual donors. Inventory and specimen lists, that provide detail about the holdings of the College Museum, are also included.
A small amount of financial records contains information about the business aspects of the museum. Individual ledger sheets document expenditures for staff and supplies.
Documentation for work completed by Professors Henry C. Cowles, Albert A. Wright, and Lynds Jones is included. These records illustrate the amount of work and detail that was involved in caring for the specimens in the Oberlin College Museum.

The records of the Oberlin College Museum were received in several separate accessions. The museum accession records were found in Asia House in 1975 and were subsequently transferred to the Archives by Peg Leonard (accession 265) and the Office of the Treasurer in 1984 (accession 1984/4). The museum catalogue was received from the Biology Department in 2001 (accession 2001/130) and a circular (c. 1859) about the museum was transferred from the Oberlin College Library, Department of Special Collections in 2002 (accession 2002/004)

In September 2005 the Museum Catalogue, 1887-1964 (1 vol.), was copied to preserve the original. Researchers use the photocopy. This accounts for the increase in the total volume of the collection from 1.0 to 1.2 linear feet.