The 262 letters and 1 poem included in this collection were written by Sinclair Lewis to Marcella Powers between 1939 and 1947. Lewis met Powers in August 1939 when they were both acting in Eugene O’Neill’s play Ah Wilderness! at the Provincetown Theater in Cape Cod. Lewis and Powers began a relationship despite the 36 year age difference between them.

In these letters, Lewis discusses a wide variety of topics - his career, his writing, and his feelings for Powers. During the time of their relationship, Lewis traveled quite a bit throughout the United States giving lectures. He also spent time working in Los Angeles in the motion picture industry and lived in Excelsior and Duluth in Minnesota where he spent much time writing. Lewis also wrote about his social life, including the people that he met, the games of chess that he played, and the books that he read. Many of the letters are very long while others are quite short, with some including cartoons drawn by Lewis.

The letters end in September 1947, shortly after Powers marriage to Michael Amrine. Lewis tells Powers that she will no longer receive an allowance from him, but that if she were ever in need of help that he would be there for her. When Lewis passed away in 1951, Powers was listed in his will.

This collection covers a wide variety of topics at St. Cloud State University - people, places, events, units, and athletics. The collection was created from a huge and largely unorganized mess of slides held in University Archives. During the arrangement and description process, nearly all slides were retained and placed into plastic sleeves to make the material more accessible. Since there was no organization to the slides, an artificial order was imposed on them.

Dating mostly from roughly 1985 to 1995, all slides, except for a handful, are in color. There are slides that date before and after that ten year period but the vast majority of the slides are from circa 1985 to 1995. Most slides are undated and unidentified - the slides were put into an appropriate series. Some do have dates stamped to the slides' envelope, but most are not. To date the slides, one must look at content and decide on an approximate date.

There are no specific creators but it is suspected that the University Photographer took many of the images. If not the University Photographer, the images were likely taken by other university employees for university business. Thus, the copyright is held by St. Cloud State University.

Individuals, to the best of our knowledge, were identified, with the names of the person or person known, written on the slide's envelope.

Containing nearly 21,000 slides, this collection is separated into six series. Within those series, some are divided into sub-series when appropriate.

Series 1: Athletics

The series is divided by sport and then by gender, if applicable, within the sport. Nearly all of the images are action shots of various sports. A few folders were of coaches for hockey and football.

Series 2: Buildings and Spaces

This series contains slides of mostly campus buildings and space. There are some slides that depict locations outside of campus and are not.

This series is divided into three sub-series;

Sub-series 1: General Campus

This sub-series contains slides showing campus by air, campus artwork, mostly outdoors, and campus scenes. Campus scenes show various exterior spots on campus and often contain multiple campus buildings. These slides often show people within these spaces, which focus mostly on the space.

Sub-series 2: Specific Campus Buildings and Spaces

Divided by specific campus buildings and space, these slides show most often the exterior and, sometimes, the interior of buildings. The slides are sub-divided when appropriate by folder. Some material here show the interior of campus buildings extensively, most notably Centennial Hall as a library (1971-2000). These slides show mostly students interacting with the space.

If there was a specific event associated with a campus building or space, such as groundbreakings, dedications, and cornerstone layings, the slides were placed in this series and not the Social Activities and Events series.

Sub-series 3: Non-campus Buildings and Spaces

There were some slides that showed non-campus spaces, such as downtown St. Cloud, downtown Minneapolis, and the neighborhood surrounding the campus as it grew. There are some slides that were included here that are now part of campus but when taken were not, such as those that list intersections by street names, and include those homes that stood nearby. These homes no longer stand.

Series 3: Campus Units and Organizations

This series contains materials related specifically to campus units, including departments, programs, and student groups by name.

The slides of International Studies are broken down by host country and show St. Cloud State students in various activities including their rooms, classes, field trips, and participating in social events.

Series 4: People

Sub-series 1: Individuals

This sub-series contains images of individuals. Some people had enough images to fill a sheet or two for the slides and were then given their own folders. Those identified and only had a few slides were put together into a single folder and had their names listed.

Sub-series 2: Students

This sub-series contains images of students. These students are shown together in groups, walking on campus, participating in class, studying, relaxing in their resident hall rooms, attending athletic events, participating in recreational sports, and as cheeleaders, danceline, or as the Husky mascot.

This sub-series does not contain all images of students but those that were generally identified as students outside of those images that appeared in those related to Centennial Hall, participating in study-abroad programs, or those depicted in social activities and events.

Series 5: Social Activities and Events

Filed in alphabetical order, this series contains slides from specific events such as homecoming, commencement, and registration, to politicians, musical groups, and Hollywood actors. Those folders labeled as "Campus Events" contain slides in which the specific event is unidentified.

Those identified and only had a few slides were put together into a single folder and the name of the event listed.

Series 6: Other

This series contains imagess that did not fit into any of the above categories. In this small series, the majority of the images are from the alumni publication Outlook Magazine. This material is from a series of images taken for the cover of Outlook Magazine; the people who do appear in the images are identified as well as the date they were published.