On November 29, 1864, the Board of Trustees for the Massachusetts Agricultural College created the office of President and elected Henry Flagg French as the first president of the newly created land grant institution. Permanent, acting and interim presidents carried on there until, in 1969, the Board of Trustees created a separate central administration for the University, which was newly reorganized into a tripartite institution. The President's office was relocated from the Amherst campus to separate offices in Boston in 1970; the Office of Chancellor was established as the chief executive position at each campus. The responsibilities of the President and of the central administrative staff are summarized in the Governance Document of the University, adopted in 1973 and amended through time. The president acts as the principal academic and executive officer of the University, presents policy recommendations to the Board of Trustees, keeps current a master plan of the University, prepares the annual budget, allocates the appropriated budget, appoints members of the faculty to tenure with the concurrence of the Board of Trustees, coordinates the work of all campuses of the University and promotes the general welfare of the University as a whole.

The bulk of the President's Office records consist of the papers of individual presidents (1864-) and their Presidential Reports (1948-1980, 1984). Other major series include, Secretary of the University, specifically the papers of Secretary Robert J. McCartney (1957-1974), whose tenure reached over two decades; Treasurer's Office (1864-), which contains the campus financial records; and records of the Donahue Institute for Governmental Services (1970-).

The records of the President's Office are organized into series and subseries.  Individual Presidents papers are organized as subseries within the series Presidents, Individual (1864-).

Access to some recent files is restricted.