Harold Hotelling, 1895-1973, mathematical statistician and mathematical economist, taught at Columbia University from 1931 until he left in 1946 to establish the Institute of Statistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During the Second World War Hotelling did research in Columbia University's Statistical Research Group. Later he was involved in research for the Office of Naval Research at Chapel Hill. He was active in many professional organizations, especially the Institute of Mathematical Statistics.

Correspondence, manuscripts, addresses, documents and printed materials. Correspondents include: Milton Friedman, Samuel S. Wilks, Nathan Pusey, William Proxmire, Helen M. Walker, Ray Lyman Wilbur, Alfred Cowles, 3d and Ragnar Frisch. The papers also include biographical, teaching and research materials; publications and drafts of articles and books including his study, "The Teaching of Statistics," and materials on the concept of "Hotelling's Generalized T."