The Whitman College and Northwest Archives has maintained a vertical file about Whitman College since at least the 1960s. From the beginning, the purpose of the vertical file was to arrange and store small files on topics, memorabilia, and ephemeral material pertaining to Whitman College. For the most part, the vertical file contains only printed items. Manuscript material and other unique items were, generally, not placed in the vertical file. Some of the materials in the vertical file include: newspaper clippings, press releases, programs, speeches, reprints, and obituaries. Since the early 2000s, material has not been regularly added to the collection, but staff do occasionally add small additions.