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The collection houses items that belonged to Edward J. Gantner, Jr., a starter in the University of Central Florida Fighting Knights football team from 1979 to 1981. This collection is useful to biographical on Ed Gantner and historical research on the beginning years of the UCF football team. Series I: Ed Gantner Collection, 1979-1981 contains three photographs, Gantner's 1979 Fidelity Union Life Defensive Player of the Week Award, and Gantner's Inaugural Knights Football Team jacket. Edward J. Gantner, Jr. (February 4, 1959 - December 31, 1990) was born and raised in Orlando, Florida. He attended Edgewater High School where his football career began. After graduation, Gantner earned a scholarship to play football for the University of Tennessee Volunteers, but returned to Florida after a few months. In 1979, Gantner joined the inaugural University of Central Florida Fighting Knights football team as a starter. Gantner would continue to play for the Knights until 1981. In 1982, Gantner joined the United States Football League (USFL)and in 1983 he played for the Tampa Bay Bandits as Defensive Tackle. Gantner would later play for the Jacksonville Bulls as an Offensive Lineman from 1984 to 1985. Unfortunately, USFL would cease operations in 1986 after litigations against the National Football League proved costly; however, Gantner had already switched careers to become a professional wrestler at this point. In 1985, Gantner made his wrestling debut in Championship Wrestling from Florida billed as Ed "The Bull" Gantner. Tragically, Edward J. Gantner, Jr. ended his own life, after years of health issues, on December 31, 1990 at the young age of 31. He was buried at Palm Cemetery in Winter Park, Orange County, Florida.

The Fairwinds Alumni Center collection contains scrapbooks and photos of alumni events, Orientation Team (O-Team) retreats, and 4EVER KNIGHTS. Included are two framed artworks and a football poster. This collection is useful to historical research on alumni and orientation activities. Series I: Scrapbooks and Photos, 1968-2018 contains scrapbooks, photographs of Orientation team retreats, alumni events, and 4EVER KNIGHTS. The Fairwinds Alumni Center was established in 2005. They offer a range of services for UCF alumni such as networking and programs to better serve the community and alumni. In 1994, UCF alumni created the group, 4EVER KNIGHTS. The Orientation Team, also known as O-Team, is a group of students who participate in incoming students' academic preparedness.

The Joe Benton UCF campus slides, 1994-1999 documents campus life at the University of Central Florida (UCF). It consists of slides depicting students, faculty, buildings, and programs held at UCF in the mid to late 1990s. These slides include scenes of students participating in sports such as basketball, soccer, volleyball, swimming, and football as well as academic programs, leisure activities, and studying. Joseph "Joe" Benton is a photographer from Charleston, South Carolina. He previously worked for Southern Living Magazine and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a staff photographer before opening his own freelance business in 1983. Benton photographed stories for publications such as Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times and advertising campaigns for companies including Coca-Cola, IBM, and The Home Depot. He also photographed marketing campaigns for colleges and universities nationwide, including the University of Central Florida (UCF). UCF employed Benton to capture photographs of the campus in the late 1990s. Benton is currently retired, residing in Charleston, South Carolina.  

The John T. Washington collection, 1957-1980, documents UCF professor John T. Washington's life outside of his affiliation with UCF and his legacy. It chiefly consists of church sermons and materials, photographs, programs, minutes, agendas, and awards relating to John T. Washington's community service and role as a pastor as well as the scholarship award and honor society established in his name after his death. The collection provides insight into John T. Washington's life as the founder and pastor of the First Church of Peace and the efforts to maintain his legacy after his death with the John T. Washington Community Service Awards and Scholarship and the John T. Washington Honor Society. John Thomas Washington was born in 1940 in Immokalee, Florida. He was an associate professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and one of UCF's first Black faculty members. Washington worked to promote diversity at UCF, serving as one of the first advisors for the Black Student Union as well as other student organizations. He also aided in developing UCF's Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action and the Office of Multicultural Academic and Support Services. Before his time at UCF, Washington served as an airman in the United States Air Force from 1962-1964. He went on to earn his bachelor's and master's degrees at Rollins College and his Ph.D. at the University of Florida. In addition to his work at UCF, Washington founded the First Church of Peace in Orlando and served as the church's pastor. Washington died in 1983 at the age of 42 from a sudden heart attack. Following his death, the Student Services Building was renamed the John T. Washington Center in 1984. The John T. Washington Community Service Awards & Scholarship were also founded in his honor. In 1996, the John T. Washington Honor Society was established to uphold Washington's values of public service.

This collection contains materials related to the Knights Racing program, which spawned from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) chapter at Florida Technological University, now University of Central Florida. Materials found in this collection include newspaper clippings, chapter documents, photographs, plaques, racing car designs, and more. This collection provides insight into the Knights Racing program at Florida Technological University (University of Central Florida) and the groups involved. The Knights Racing Program has been a staple of the University of Central Florida since the creation of the FTU chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1972. Before the program became widely known as "Knights Racing," the racing teams were simply referred to as simply the members of the ASME chapter. The program's name, "Knights Racing," originated with UCF's mascot change in 2007 which shortened the UCF's mascot from "The Golden Knights" to "The Knights." The Mini Baja Competition was coined under the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), who began to hold competitions for the Baja carts. This competition consists of students designing, building, and operating a recreational offroading vehicle. At the time of their creation, the Baja Racing Team and the Formula SAE team were one team; however, they separated in 2019 due to Student Government Association funding limitations. Since their divorce in 2019, the teams compete, design, and build their cars independently. As of 2021, the Formula SAE and Baja Racing Teams remain under the umbrella of the "Knights Racing Program" though they act independently.

Mary Monroe was a theatre student at FTU in the 1970s. Her collection of photographs, news clippings, and programs document the theatre performances during that time.

In the 1970s, Michael Berman was taking photographs for the Theatre Department of the Florida Technological University (now, University of Central Florida) and the campus newspaper, the Central Florida Future. Taken while attending and then working at the university, the collection contains black and white and color negatives that depict moments of the everyday life at the university, theatrical acts, various events both on and outside of campus, portraits, as well as nature scenes.

The Orlando Shakespeare Theater Collection contains playbills, programs, reviews, newspaper clippings, films, cassettes, reels, and schedules. It also includes items relating to the Orlando-UCF Shakespeare Festival Partnership (OSF) such as Simply Shakespeare, Central Florida's first Shakespearean troupe, and the UCF Shakespeare Summer Institute as well as the NEH grant funded faculty study project "Hamlet: Exploring the Renaissance Mind in Action" which was presented in the Summer 1991.

This collection contains scrapbooks, loose materials, and publications related to the UCF Arboretum. Comprised mostly of photographs, the collection also contains pamphlets, articles, and concept drawings.

The Assistant Director of Maintenance Records contain information concerning the growth of UCF since its inception. Among the documents in the collection are building blueprints, memos, work orders, photographs, letters, and official correspondence that detail UCF's physical growth.