The records of the Department of Athletics and Recreation fonds are representative of the athletics side of the Department of Athletics and Recreation. While athletics and recreation fall under the same department, in practice, they operate independently of one another. Their textual records are also physically held at separate locations. Surviving records in the Department of Athletics and Recreation fonds are broadly representative of the achievements of UBC athletes and teams. Far less extensive, are the types of administrative documents produced or accumulated in the course of the day-to-day business of the department. Examples of records present in the fonds include programs, historical research, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, team rosters, scoresheets, profile write-ups, yearbooks, media guides, correspondence, agendas, training schedules, coaching handbooks, travel itineraries, and ephemera.
The Department of Athletics and Recreation fonds is arranged in the following series; Athletics photographs, Athletics History, Baseball, Basketball, Athletic Events (including Big Block, Hall of Fame, and Millennium Breakfast), Cross Country Track and Field, Field Hockey, Football, Golf, Ice Hockey, Media & Promotions, Assorted Sports, Other Sports (which includes Skiing, Sailing, Tennis, Gymnastics, Rowing and Wrestling), Rugby, Soccer, Swimming and Volleyball.

The fonds consists of records reflecting the myriad of activities under the President's Office. Records relating to the university's founding in its earliest days include records of the early days of Medicine at UBC. Records relating to Indigenous Peoples include the teacher training program and "Native Indian Students at UBC." Documents related to faculties and departments, including Applied Sciences, Arts, Commerce, Forestry, Graduate Studies, VP Finance, Administrative Services, VP Faculty and Student Affairs, Dean of Women, Agricultural Sciences, Dentistry, Education, Law, Medicine, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Also present are records related to Women at UBC, - including reports on the Status of Academic and Non-Academic Women - Senate Committees and the Board of Governors. Personnel records related to employees, salaries, agreements with Provincial and Territorial Governments and affiliated organizations with UBC, finances, the many UBC committees, advisory groups and records associated with the founding of UBC institutes, foundations, centres and the Faculty Club. Records also relate to teacher evaluations, student discipline, budgets, appointments, new programs, legal opinion, and grant and scholarship awards. Subject files include the Downtown Eastside and the President's Task Force to renew sports services. There are also records related to the University Endowment Lands and the UBC's planning and development of land and buildings. Records types include agreements, agendas, applications, minutes, manuals, correspondence, memorandums, evaluations, reports, summaries, subject files, statistics, speeches, policies, procedures, pamphlets and academic plans.