The collection is comprised of sixteen series:

Series 1: Correspondence (Official)

Series 2: Speeches

Series 3: Annual Reports

Series 4: Miscellaneous Education Association

Series 5: Ford Foundation

Series 6: North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Series 7: Subject Files

Series 8: Yale-in-China Association

Series 9: Newspaper Clippings and Printed Materials

Series 10: Artifacts and Memorabilia

Series 11: Interviews and Selected Speeches (including links to audio recordings and transcripts) Boxes 81-82

Series 12: Biographical and Family

Series 13: Photographs, Negatives and Daguerreotypes

Series 14: China Courses

Series 15: Yale-In-China-Travel, Correspondence and Personal

Series 16: Ephemera and Other Materials

Francis Stephenson Hutchins (b. 1902), a native of Northfield, Massachusetts, was educated at Oberlin College (A.B., 1923) and Yale University (M.A., 1933). Having worked in China as an undergraduate, Hutchins returned to China as an instructor in 1925 as part of the Yale-in-China Association's educational mission. Forced to leave China in 1939 during the Japanese invasion, Hutchins was appointed president of Berea College to succeed his father—William J. Hutchins.  Hutchins served as president of the College from 1939 until his retirement in 1967.

Hutchins' tenure at Berea College included institutional reorganization and curricular development, a five-fold increase in the College's endowment, and the readmission of black students to Berea following a 1950 modification of the Day Law by the Kentucky General Assembly. Having been appointed a trustee of Yale-In-China Association in 1939, Hutchins served as vice-president (1939 -1949) and, in 1950, was made an honorary trustee for life. Following Hutchins' retirement from the Berea in1967, he returned to China as a representative of the Association.  He resided in Hong Kong from 1967 to 1970.Hutchins married Louise Gillman (Dr. Louise Hutchins, MD) in 1934.  The Hutchins had four children: Anne, Francis, William Maynard, and Robert Lawrence.  Hutchins died on November 28, 1988 and is buried in Berea.