The student records series is the largest series of records in the Archives. The series consists of the individual academic records of students who matriculated at the University of King's College between 1886 and 2009. The records before 1922 relate to the University's campus in Windsor, Nova Scotia, while records after that date were created at the University's Halifax location .
The student records were generated by the Registrar's Office staff, who create a file folder for each student who applies to King's. If the student subsequently enrolls, the file is maintained through the student's academic career at the University, recording the student's academic activities and progress. Correspondence from a prospective student who later registered enrolled is filed in that person's student record in this series, not in the Registrar's Office correspondence series. If the student is not accepted or does not enroll, the file is kept for one year in case the student reapplies.
During the processing of the student records, attempts were made to resolve ambiguities in student names and dates. A few of the student records show no evidence that the student ever completed enrolment or took a class at King's, or else the student enrolled and started classes a year or more later. In those cases, the record is filed with the year the student started taking classes, if that can be determined. If it cannot, then the record is filed according to the year the identification number was issued.
There are many gaps in the student records holdings in the Archives. The first student record is from 1886, and for the next two decades, there are no more than three records per year. At times, the policy was to destroy student records after the student left King's; for several years in the 1980s, the only remaining record of a student is a Kardex card (13 cm x 20 cm), with courses typed on it, grades, awards and degrees noted, and usually a small photograph of the student stapled on the lower right corner of the card.
