The Reynolds Student Investment Fund began in 1952 in conjunction with Professor Frederic Joerg's Investments course in the Duke University Department of Economics and Business Administration as a means to introduce students to investment practices. The collection includes financial reports, trust agreements, analyses, and related materials from the years 1952 to 1968.
The study of economics has a long history at Duke University. Economics classes were taught at Trinity College, the forerunner of Duke University, as early as the 1899-1900 academic year. Several individuals particularly important to the Department's development and programming: include Calvin Bryce Hoover; Joseph J. Spengler; H. Gregg Lewis; and Martin Bronfenbrenner. The collection contains miscellaneous office files associated with the daily operations of the Department of Economics including: correspondence, memoranda, class schedules, faculty rosters and files, reports, and undergraduate honors theses. Also present are the Working Papers in Economics produced by the Department of Economics, Duke University dating 1981-1990, 1992.