The Duke University Marine Laboratory, founded in 1938, educates undergraduate and graduate students in the marine sciences. Part of the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Beaufort, North Carolina laboratory is also a renowned center of scientific research. The Marine Laboratory Records include photographs, correspondence, memoranda, minutes, recommendations, and reports documenting the Laboratory's work and administration. Major subjects include marine biology, oceanography, and zoology; research and study of the marine sciences; the Marine Biomedical Center; oceanic research vessels including the Monitor; and John D. Costlow, the director of the Laboratory for many years.

The Marine Laboratory Records include correspondence, memoranda, minutes, recommendations, and reports documenting the Laboratory's work and administration. Much of the material focuses on student and faculty research in Beaufort, North Carolina. There are also extensive correspondence and subject files belonging to John Costlow, Director of the Marine Laboratory. The collection also includes personal information on students, faculty, and staff, and these files are restricted under FERPA.

Accessions from 2018 include extensive photographs, including prints and slides, as well as administrative materials, reports, curriculur materials, and others.

As of 2005, the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University offers two master's degree programs: Master of Environmental Management (MEM) and Master of Forestry (MF). Both degree programs require students complete a master's project that presents an in-depth or quantitative analysis of a problem related to the students' particular focus area. Collection contains printed, bound master's projects. Materials range in date 1933-2005. Master's Projects for 2005 are held in the Nicholas School office. English.

Collection contains printed, bound master's projects. Materials range in date 1933-2005. Master's Projects for 2005 (boxes 15-16) are held in the Nicholas School office. Box 14 ends with Zollett 2004.

Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment traces its beginnings to the founding of the Duke School of Forestry in 1938. In the 1990s two other entities, the Duke Marine Laboratory and the Duke Department of Geology, were combined with Forestry to form the Nicholas School. The Records of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, 1916-ongoing, contain materials created from the school's inception as the Duke School of Forestry (1938) through all its subsequent names: the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the School of the Environment, and the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. The collection also includes material about the history of Duke Forest and its use as a teaching and research facility. The earliest materials comprise the papers of Clarence F. Korstian, first director of the Forest and first dean of the School, including his correspondence, early reports about the Forest and the School, and his involvement in the Ecological Society of America, the North Carolina Forestry Association, and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations. The bulk of the collection consists of the School's general administrative records, including annual reports, admissions records, enrollment statistics, information on degrees granted, faculty history and meetings, and surveys and meetings of the School's alumni. Visual materials include posters, color and black-and-white photographs, negatives, slides, and digital photographs that document the School of Forestry and the Duke Marine Laboratory.

The Records of Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment contain materials created during the school's entire history, from its founding as the Duke School of Forestry, in 1938, through all its subsequent names: the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, the School of the Environment, and the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. The collection also includes materials about the closely-related Duke Forest, especially its history and the School's management and use of it as a teaching and research facility. The earliest materials here comprise the papers of Clarence F. Korstian, first director of the Forest and first dean of the School; his files include his personal correspondence, early reports about the Forest and the School, and material about several professional organizations, particularly the Ecological Society of America, the North Carolina Forestry Association, and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations. Following Korstian's papers, the bulk of the collection consists of the School's general administrative records, including all the following: annual reports, admissions records, enrollment statistics, and information on degrees granted; faculty history, curricula, and meetings; and extensive data on the School's alumni, especially alumni surveys and newsletters and meetings of the Alumni Association. The administrative records are supplemented by extensive visual materials; these contain a small selection of posters and other promotional materials about the School, but primarily consist of approximately 5000 color and black-and-white photographs, negatives, slides, and digital photographs that document a wide variety of faculty and student history and activities at both the School of Forestry and the Duke Marine Laboratory. Arranged in order by accession number, with several small, related accessions merged into single series.

The Nicholas School of the Environment's Senior Professional Program traces its beginnings to 1979, when the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies first offered a program of short intensive courses. These courses have been offered since then as part of various named programs and centers, including the Intensive Course Program, the Continuing Education Program, and the Center for Environmental Education. As of 2013, the Senior Professional Program is the only one of these terms that remains in use as a formally named entity in the Nicholas School. The Nicholas School of the Environment's Senior Professional Program Records span the years 1977-1997 and contain correspondence with faculty, syllabi, notebooks, schedules, and other materials from intensive courses, workshops, and conferences offered as part of the Intensive Course Program, the Center for Continuing Education, the Center for Environmental Education, and the Senior Professional Program. Materials document research and teaching interests of several Nicholas School faculty, and topics covered in the courses include ecological risk assessment, environmental sciences, water supply, water resources development, forest management, and the National Environmental Policy Act. Arranged in order by accession number.

The Nicholas School of the Environment, Senior Professional Program Records contain correspondence with faculty, syllabi, notebooks, schedules, and other materials from courses, workshops, and conferences presented under the auspices of several Nicholas School programs and centers from 1977-1997, including the Intensive Course Program, the Center for Continuing Education, the Center for Environmental Education, and the Senior Professional Program. These materials document the research and teaching interests of several Nicholas School faculty during this period; topics covered in the courses include ecological risk assessment, environmental sciences, water supply, water resources development, forest management, and the National Environmental Policy Act. Some materials have been transferred to this collection from the Nicholas School of the Environment Records, 1916-2010. The collection is arranged in order by accession number.

In 1938, the School of Forestry at Duke was founded as the first graduate school of forestry in the South. In the 1970s, the school expanded its program to include a broad range of resource and environmental studies. In 1974/75, it became the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Collection contains memoranda, brochures, newspaper clippings, conference materials, annual reports, photographs and slides relating to the Duke School of Forestry and Environmental Studies from roughly 1960 through 1979.

Collection contains alumni newsletters, publications, technical papers, department brochures, conference programs, memoranda, annual reports, as well as documents relating to the proposed phasing out of the Forestry School in 1975 and resultant student protests. Also includes papers from the 1965 Tropical Forestry Symposium sponsored by the School of Forestry, black and white photographs of the arboretum, and color photos and slides of School's field days in 1977 and 1979. Removed photographs from albums and interleaved in folders for preservation.