This series consists of materials, dating roughly from Catalyst's first twenty-five years, that were stored as an archive in the Catalyst Information Center, and have been maintained together as a discrete group of records. They were inventoried in about 1997; some order has been imposed for ease of use. The records document a range of early Catalyst activities, beginning with four core programmatic areas delineated at the organization's founding: Catalyst on Campus, Catalyst in Education, Catalyst in Social Work, and Catalyst in Science. Much of Catalyst's work at this stage focused on supporting individual women in establishing careers or returning to the workforce after having children.

The series is arranged in eleven subseries: General files, Catalyst on Campus, Catalyst in Education, Catalyst in Social Work, Catatlyst in Science, Catalyst National Network of Career Resource Centers, Career and Family Center, Westchester Project, Career Opportunities Series, Entering the Workforce: A Workshop for Women over 30, and Women Directors' Roundtable. See individual subseries for detailed scope and content notes.