The idea for Arts I at UBC can be traced to "Discipline and Discovery," a report produced by a committee chaired by Arts Dean Kaspar Naegele in 1965. The report recommended that the "first year in Arts should consist of a core program of general studies based on broadly humanistic concepts, taught by experienced instructors through a combination of lectures to large groups and seminar discussion for small groups." Although the committee's recommendations were not accepted, Naegele's successor Dean Dennis Healey passed the task of making recommendations to a new group established to advise him on curriculum. The Curriculum Advisory Committee met through 1965/66 and submitted its report in May 1966. Following extensive discussions, the University offered, in 1967, voluntarily, its Arts I program. Its primary objectives were to "introduce the student effectively to the University's intellectual life and give him a less fragmented view of education than is normally offered to first-year students. In addition, the students undertaken will encourage a broad, though the disciplined, approach to the world of within and without the University." Arts I was initially established as a three-year pilot project, after which it would be subject to an evaluation process.
The series consists of minutes, reports and correspondence about the development and early growth of UBC's Arts I program.