These papers include the writings and addresses of Forest C. Ensign on the history of education, in particular within Iowa. Between 1905 and 1948, Ensign was invited to speak at conferences and commencements, and he presented radio addresses between 1925 and 1935. These are included.

Faculty biographical notes, in box 2, were written by Ensign in 1923 in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the College of Education, 1873-1923.

The second United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) summer seminar in Education for International Understanding, was held in Paris, France, April 28, 1948. Included in this collection are the 1947-1948 annual report, the June 1947 newsletter, the 1948 program, and five addresses delivered at the 1948 seminar.

German language periodicals and books dated 1934-1940 were collected by Paul C. Packer, Dean of the College of Education, and are housed in this collection.

From 1922 through the 1940s, Ensign solicited information regarding academies in Iowa, with the intention of writing a history of these institutions. In this endeavor, he corresponded with school superintendents and accepted referrals to their aging relatives who recalled such defunct institutions from their generation. This correspondence often included pamphlets and historical vignettes. This material is filed alphabetically by institutional name or county name. Ensign corresponded with some notable figures. He wrote to architect Frank Lloyd Wright in August 1939 regarding the Hillside Home School in Spring Green, Wisconsin, which was designed by Wright in 1903 to replace the original 1886 structures. Wright's secretary replied to Ensign on the status of the slow restoration process. Another correspondent, Dexter Edson Smith, was the first graduate of the State University of Iowa in 1858.

Included is a leather-bound volume with gilt pages and leather book case, which is a collection of over 200 letters of appreciation (primarily mimeographed; some letters are pasted in) written February to March 1942, to Forest C. Ensign, who was a charter member of the Epsilon Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, and advisor for the founding of the Theta Chapter of Pi Lambda Theta.

Genealogical materials of Ensign and his wife, Lucy, are housed in boxes 5 and 6.