The papers of Walter Platt Cooke reflect his service to the University of Buffalo and document major changes within the University during the 1920's. The papers cover the period 1916-1924 and 1928-1930, with the bulk of the material falling within the years 1920-1922 when Cooke was Acting Chancellor of the University of Buffalo, Chairman of the Endowment Campaign, and a member of the search committee to select a new Chancellor. The papers include correspondence, 1916-1924, 1928-1930; financial documents, committee lists, and printed materials from the U.B. Endowment Campaigns of 1920 and 1929; clippings, 1920-1922; and a memorial volume containing published obituaries of Cooke, 1931.

The correspondence includes letters regarding the reorganization of the U.B. Council, 1916-1920, which was undertaken to ensure widespread financial support in the Endowment Campaign, including provisional letters of resignation from Council members, 1917, and from Chancellor Charles P. Norton, 1918. Much of the correspondence pertains to the Endowment Campaign of 1920 and documents its success in raising over five million dollars which financed the reorganization and expansion of the University in the 1920's. There is also correspondence, 1920-1922, of the committee to select a new Chancellor, chaired by John Lord O'Brian, including correspondence with candidates and recommendations, as well as correspondence with and about Dr. Samuel Paul Capen, the man selected to become the first full-time Chancellor of the University of Buffalo. Also included is correspondence regarding Capen's inauguration and the dedication of Foster Hall. The correspondence, 1928-1930, mainly pertains to the 1929 Endowment Campaign, but also encompasses aspects of the physical development of the University as revealed in correspondence with building contractors, the Council's Committee on Buildings and Grounds, and with Thomas B. Lockwood concerning his vision of a new library.

The years from 1916-1922 were critical in the transformation of the University from a loose collection of professional schools to an integrated university. During this period, the College of Arts and Science, begun in 1913, became a full four year undergraduate program, the University began its move to the Main Street campus, the first major endowment was raised--showing strong community support for U.B.-- and the first full-time administrators of the University, Treasurer George Crofts and Chancellor Samuel P. Capen, were appointed in 1921 and 1922, respectively.

Among Walter P. Cooke's correspondents were: