Advice on writing the history of a college is offered. Until recently, there appear to have been few examples of rigorous, ongoing programs to record the facts regarding the founding and development of colleges. One problem is that much of the historical and detailed information relative to the development of colleges is not found in one designated place on a campus. Another is the temptation to bias; writers of institutional histories must be true to the facts regardless of pressures to do otherwise. In addition to telling the history in an interesting way, there is considerable human interest involved in stories that depict faculty and student life and that also may add humor to the historical data. The assignment requires both qualitative and quantitative research. The institutional researcher needs to know where to locate the original data. Formal sources include writings by the faculty, student theses dealing with academic or curricular histories, state legislature records, and state archives. Further reading should be done from institutional self-studies and other accreditation documents, from annual reports, college catalogs and other school publications, departmental histories, records of interviews with retired faculty, and the archives of the local newspaper. The history can be organized by chronological periods or by topics. (SW)