The Counseling Center offered general psychological counseling to students, faculty, staff, and the Durham community, particularly in the areas of career planning and education, and personal and social development. It also provided students with information about jobs, graduate school, financial aid, foreign study, and employment. Records contain printed material relating to the Counseling Center and its predecessor, the Bureau of Testing and Guidance, including correspondence, reports, memoranda, financial statements, printed matters, and other materials. The materials range in date from 1950-1970.

The collection contains materials pertaining to the Counseling Center and its predecessor, the Bureau of Testing and Guidance, including printed informational materials, correspondence, reports, memoranda, financial statements, test booklets, draft proposals for an M.A. in guidance at Duke, and other materials. Included are annual reports, 1950-1969; summaries of placement test scores by school and major field, 1951-1956; annual budgets, 1951/52 to 1969/70; staff research reports, 1952 to 1966 concerning placement test performance and predictive value; and brochures and clippings describing the Center and its services. The correspondence and memoranda concern planning for a proposed graduate program in counselor training (1950 to 1953) and guidance training institute (1958), placement tests (1962), the organizational name change (1964), and practices at other institutions (1959-1960). Final annual budgets (oversize) are also included, covering the years 1954 to 1970, as well as a ten year placement testing study covering the years 1951-1960 (oversize).