The Dept. of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER) was created in 1975 by the merger of the Men's and Women's Physical Education Departments. However, formal physical education at Duke University dates back to 1902 when President Kilgo invited Wilbur "Cap" Card to return to Trinity College as Director of a new program in physical education. The collection is divided into two series: General files and the John Friedrich papers series. The General files contain printed material on intramural athletics, personal recreational programs, and physical education. The John Friedrich papers series contains administrative records pertaining to his chairmanship of HPER from 1963-1986, and ranges in date from 1975-1986.

The General files series in the Dept. of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER) collection contains materials pertaining to the origins and activities of HPER including material on intramural athletics, personal recreational programs, and physical education. Present in the collection are: flyers, intramural handbooks, clippings, manual for the Men's Physical Education program of 1932, and issues of the Faculty Fitness Newsletter. The John Friedrich papers series contains administrative records pertaining to his chairmanship of HPER from 1963-1986, and ranges in date from 1975-1986. Materials present include correspondence, minutes and agendas from several University committees including Academic Council, Commencement Committee, and Undergraduate Faculty Council of Arts and Sciences (UFCAS), as well as minutes from HPER departmental meetings. Friedrich presided over the HPER restructuring debates of the 1970s and early 1980s and reports, proposals, and clippings regarding retrenchment of the Dept. are present in this series.