The American History series contains films dealing with the history of the United States and date from 1959 to 1973. This includes eleven episodes of a thirteen part series by Alistair Cooke entitled, “America: A Personal History of the United States”, produced by the BBC. This series also contains films on American music, the Erie Canal, life during different time periods in the country, and four episodes from the series "The Presidency in the Postwar World: The Truman Years.” Films within an episodic series are arranged chronologically.

J. Howard Pew (1882-1971) was president of one of the largest wholesale distributor of motor petroleum companies, the Sun Oil Company (now Sunoco) from 1912 to 1947. He was a prominent philanthropist. In 1948, Pew and his siblings co-founded The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-profit, non-governmental organization with the purpose of serving the public. The J. Howard Pew papers are primarily concerned with Pew's political activities and philanthropy. The collection is arranged into seven series: Alphabetical general correspondence; Subject files; Presbyterian Church; Christian Freedom Foundation; Glenmede Trust Co.; Pew Memorial Foundation; and Grove City College.