The Susan E. Cayleff Papers date from 1972 to 2020 and span Cayleff's academic career from her undergraduate studies until her retirement as emeritus professor at San Diego State University. The collection documents Cayleff's teaching, service, mentoring, and research activities and includes correspondence, manuscripts, primary source research documents, publications, course materials, photographs, audio recordings, and ephemera. The collection is organized into five chronologically arranged series corresponding to each of the institutions at which Cayleff studied and worked, followed by two final series devoted to her publications and research activities and research materials collected throughout her career: University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Sarah Lawrence College; Brown University; University of Texas Medical Branch; San Diego State University; Research and Publications; and Primary Source Materials.

Series I, University of Massachusetts, Amherst dates from 1973 to 1976 and documents Cayleff's undergraduate studies in the burgeoning field of women's studies. It includes Cayleff's course work, journal entries, and records pertaining to student organizations. Notably the series documents Cayleff's early involvement in feminist activism and extracurricular activities, including the university's first women's studies symposium at which Cayleff presented original research on lesbian relationships, the Women's Basic Self Awareness Colloquium, and volunteering with the university's Everywoman's Center. The series is filed in roughly chronological order.

Series II, Sarah Lawrence College dates from 1976 to 1978 and documents Cayleff's graduate studies for her first master's degree in women's studies. This small series includes coursework, research notes, and a file on a conference on housework. This series is filed in chronological order.

Series III, Brown University dates from 1978 to 1983 and documents Cayleff's doctoral studies in American civilization as well as her dissertation on the 19th century water cure, written under the direction of professor Mari Jo Buhle, and in which appears Cayleff's lifelong research interests in women's health and naturopathic medicine. The series includes correspondence with professor and mentor Barbara Melosh, who comments on Cayleff's dissertation manuscript and offers moral and emotional support to Cayleff when Cayleff confides in Melosh about her struggles at Brown. This series also includes the earliest documentation of Cayleff's teaching activities and evaluations by her students. While at Brown, Cayleff taught courses on women as healers, race and racism, and Zionism and antisemitism. This series is filed in chronological order.

Series IV, University of Texas Medical Branch dates from 1983 to 1987 and documents Cayleff's first professional academic position as an assistant professor of medical humanities. The series documents Cayleff's associations with the nursing program and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology where she established a seminar in women's history that was well received by faculty and students. The papers show Cayleff as an emerging expert in women's health and medicine, leading graduate seminars and teaching a course in folk medicine, presenting at conferences, and publishing articles in the medical branch's house journal, Rounds. Cayleff's first published article about athlete Babe Didrikson Zaharias, specifically focusing on Zaharias's battle with cancer, appears during this time. In correspondence with Cayleff's colleague and former professor Mari Jo Buhle, Buhle offers advice and guidance to Cayleff as an early career academic. Cayleff's publications during her tenure at the University of Texas Medical Branch, including articles and book reviews, are filed in the Research and Publications series.

Series V, San Diego State University dates from 1987 to 2020 and documents Cayleff's three-decades tenure in the Women's Studies department. It is divided into several subseries reflecting the many aspects of Cayleff's career at San Diego State, such as teaching, mentoring, professional growth, and service to the university and the community, notably with campus and community groups and organizations for women, youths, and the LGBT community. There are 13 alphabetically arranged subseries: Awards and honors, Committees and service, Conferences, Correspondence, Department of Women's Studies, Graduate Women Scholars of Southern California (SCALLOPS), Grants, Retention, Tenure, and Promotion, SafeZones@SDSU, Teaching Files, Thesis Committees, Women's History Museum, and Young Women's Studies Club. Cayleff's publications during her tenure at San Diego State University are filed in the Research and Publications series.

The Awards and honors subseries dates from 1989 to 2018 and collects Cayleff's numerous accolades for teaching, mentoring and service to the university and community. It includes certificates, letters of recommendation, documents from awards events, and related materials. This subseries is filed in chronological order.

The Committees and service subseries dates from 1988 to 2018 and documents Cayleff's work on a wide range of university committees and projects, as well as her public service outside the university. This series documents Cayleff's service to the office of preprofessional health advising interviewing applicants to the university's medical programs, as well as Cayleff's long association with the athletics department serving in a variety of mentoring and advisory roles. This subseries is filed in chronological order.

The Conferences subseries dates from 1988 to 2018 and documents conferences at which Cayleff presented research or which she helped organize, as well as smaller-scale events at which Cayleff spoke. Topics include medicine, naturopathy, women's sports, girls and girlhood, and issues concerning the LGBT community. This subseries is filed in chronological order.

The Correspondence subseries dates from 1987 to 2019 and includes a small amount of correspondence with faculty, students and the media that does not clearly belong with any of the other series in the collection. The correspondence mostly consists of notes of appreciation from Cayleff's students, condolences from faculty colleagues on the death of Cayleff's mother, and requests for comment from the media. This series is filed in roughly chronological order.

The Department of Women's Studies subseries dates from 1973 to 2019 and documents the history of the department during Cayleff's tenure as well as her tenure as department chair from 1997 to 2005. It includes flyers announcing courses and events, information on the history of the department, meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence, and ephemera. This subseries is filed in chronological order.

The Graduate Women Scholars of Southern California (SCALLOPS) subseries dates from 1990 to 2008 and documents SCALLOPS's peer-mentoring, research, and professional activities. Founded in 1990 by Cayleff and women scholars from local universities, the group provided a forum for members to network with each other and the community, read and critique each others' work, and discuss topics relevant to navigating graduate school and the academic job market. The group met on a monthly basis at members' homes and would discuss a predetermined topic usually having to do with research or professional skill-building. The group regularly participated in the Pacific Southwest Women's Studies Association conference and frequently collaborated on research projects and presented together at academic conferences. A major research project entitled "My Research, Myself" explored the link between women scholars' personal lives and their research. The project was delivered at several conferences, notably the conference of the Western Association of Women Historians in 1993. Members of SCALLOPS also lent support to the Young Women's Studies Club at Hoover High School, mentoring students, providing transportation and chaperoning at events. The series is arranged in roughly chronological order in four groups: membership records; the annual records of meetings and activities including meeting minutes and agendas, correspondence, and related materials; files pertaining to the conferences, including panel proposals, conference papers, and ephemera; and lastly miscellaneous subject files.

The Grants subseries dates from 1987 to 2017 and documents grant-funded projects which Cayleff administered and grants in support of Cayleff's research activities. Of particular interest are the files related to a grant from City Heights Educational Pilot Program, which supported a collaboration between the Women's Studies Department, The Women's History Reclamation Project and several City Heights schools. The subseries is filed in chronological order.

The Retention, Tenure, and Promotion subseries dates from 1987 to 2018 and consists of Cayleff's application for employment, RTP and professional review files, and records of research sabbaticals. This series includes records of Cayleff's tenure in 1990. This subseries is filed in chronological order. The SafeZones@SDSU subseries dates from 2008 to 2020 and contains the business records of SafeZones events and the journals kept by SafeZones interns and trainees. Materials in this series include correspondence, ephemera, and student work documenting events including the National Coming Out Day, the LGBT allies resource fair, film screenings, guest lectures, and the Lavender Graduation ceremony for LGBT students and allies. This subseries is filed in chronological order.

The Teaching files subseries dates from 1987 to 2019 and documents Cayleff's teaching activities, courses, and internships in the women's studies and LGBT studies programs. The subseries consists of syllabi, course materials, teaching evaluations, and journals kept by students participating in community-based service learning programs through women's studies and LGBT studies courses. There is also a small amount of material from Cayleff's teaching activities at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. This subseries is filed in roughly chronological order.

The Thesis Committees subseries dates from 1989 to 2019 and documents master's thesis committees on which Cayleff served. Materials in this subseries include student theses, announcements of master's thesis defenses, correspondence and related material. This subseries is filed in chronological order.

The Women's History Museum of California (Women's History Reclamation Project) subseries dates from 1997 to 2019 and documents Cayleff's association with the Women's Museum (formerly WHRP) and the museum's annual Women's Hall of Fame awards event. Materials in this subseries include correspondence, programs, ephemera and related materials.

The Young Women's Studies Club subseries dates from 1996 to 2019 and consists of the business records and student work of the Young Women's Studies Club at Hoover High School, a collaborative program of the Women's Studies Department which Cayleff founded in 1995. Cayleff served as the longtime faculty director of the program which placed community service learning students enrolled in women's studies courses with students at Hoover High School. This subseries includes correspondence between Cayleff and the program's administrators, the training materials and journal reflections of student mentors enrolled in women's studies classes, and the work and reflections of the Hoover High School students, including intake surveys and post-semester evaluations. Also present are files of two research projects that came out of the YWSC. The first, a research project entitled Girls Voices was based on the work of mentors in the YWSC and interviews with club participants, and was developed into a research article and conference presentations Cayleff and several students. The second is a doctoral dissertation based on observations of the YWSC by Jennifer Cross Joseph, a PsyD student at Alliant International University, San Diego.

Series VI, Research and Publications documents Cayleff's research projects and books, articles and reviews from 1972 to 2019 and includes manuscripts, research materials, publishing contracts, correspondence and related materials for each project. The series is divided into six subseries: Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health, Wings of Gauze: Women of Color and the Experience of Health and Illness, Breaking Trails: An Oral History of Women Athletes in Twentieth Century America, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Nature's Path: A History of Naturopathic Healing in America, and Articles. The series are named after the titles of Cayleff's published works (or tentative title in the case of unfinished projects), except in the case of the Babe Zaharias research, which resulted in two books, numerous talks, and a yet unproduced film project, all of which is included under a single series (Research articles related to BDZ are filed in the Articles subseries). The series are filed in rough chronological order according to date of publication, with the Articles series last.

The Wash and Be Healed: The Water-Cure Movement and Women's Health subseries dates from 1987 to 1990, with additional material from 2010, and documents Cayleff's first published book on the 19th century water cure movement, based on her doctoral dissertation at Brown University and published in 1987.

The Wings of Gauze: Women of Color and the Experience of Health and Illness subseries dates from 1988 to 1996 and documents the publication process for Cayleff's second book, an anthology volume co-edited with Barbara Bair and published in 1993. This series includes the book proposal, publishing contract, advertising flyers, book reviews, and awards nominations and is filed in chronological order.

The Breaking Trails: An Oral History of Women Athletes in Twentieth Century America subseries consists of interviews and correspondence Cayleff conducted in 1992 for an unrealized book on female athletes. Cayleff contacted distinguished athletes in a range of sports including baseball, softball, bowling(?), powerlifting, sled dog racing, and wheelchair sports. Cayleff abandoned this project to research and write Nature's Path: A History of Naturopathic Healing in America. Cayleff details her reasons for abandoning the project in a letter to the editor of Temple University Press.

The Babe Didrikson Zaharias subseries dates from 1986 to 2014 and documents Cayleff's research on Olympian, multisport athlete and professional golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias, which resulted in two biographies and numerous articles, conference papers, and lectures. For her first book, the Pulitzer-nominated Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1996), Cayleff conducted exclusive interviews with Zaharias's friends and associates, the tapes and transcripts for which are included in this subseries. In order to facilitate the easier use of the wealth of materials generated in this years long research project, the subseries is divided into eight sub-subseries: Manuscript, Correspondence, Primary sources, Press, Talks, Babe Didrikson: The Greatest All-Sport Athlete of All Time, and Film.

Manuscript includes the drafts of individual chapters, research notes, and topical indexes for Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias.

Correspondence includes correspondence with sources Cayleff consulted in her research, publishers, literary agents, and readers, as well as the prospectus for the book, when it was provisionally titled The Golden Cyclone: Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 1911-1956, as well as the publishing contract.

Primary sources contains primary source documents that Cayleff gathered for her research, including copies of newspaper and magazine articles, Babe Didrikson Zaharias's correspondence and medical documents, and guides to Babe Didrikson Zaharias primary source library collections.

Press consists of the publisher's advertisements for the book, reviews of the book, and media profiles on BDZ and Cayleff.

Talks contains correspondence and ephemera related to Cayleff's lectures about her book and BDZ, including radio and television interviews.

Babe Didrikson: The Greatest All-Sport Athlete of All Time consists of documents related specifically to Cayleff's second book about BDZ, a novelized biography for young adults, including correspondence with literary agents and publishers with comments on the manuscript in progress.

Film documents the preproduction plans for an adaptation of Cayleff's BDZ biography and contains contracts for options on film rights and correspondence with screenwriters and producers, including Cayleff's main collaborator and screenwriter Donald Martin.

The Nature's Path: A History of Naturopathic Healing in America subseries dates from 1990 to 2017 and consists of research, interviews, correspondence and press regarding Cayleff's history of naturopathic medicine published in 2016. Although it was her last book to be published, Cayleff began research for what would become Nature's Path in the early 1990s, working on it in her spare time between other projects. She abandoned work on an oral history of American women's sports, provisionally titled Breaking Trails, to devote her energies to Nature's Path. A comprehensive account of the history and practice of naturopathic medicine in America, Nature's Path represents the culmination of Cayleff's interest in women's health and women in medicine, which she had studied since her days as a student. For this book Cayleff conducted interviews with many leaders and pioneers in the field of naturopathy, the transcripts of which are included here. The subseries is divided into four sub-subseries: Manuscript, Correspondence, Interviews, and Press.

Manuscript includes the page proofs of Nature's Path.

Correspondence includes correspondence with Cayleff's interview subjects, publishers and editors, as well as the book proposal and publishing contract.

Interviews consists of interviews Cayleff conducted with naturopathic doctors that were incorporated into the book.

Press consists of publicity for the book and talks connected with naturopathic medicine.

The Articles subseries dates from 1972 to 2018 and consists of Cayleff's journal articles and shorter pieces spanning her entire career. In addition to copies of publications, the files here contain related material including manuscripts, notes, and correspondence with publishers, editors and sources. The subseries is divided into five sub-subseries: Book chapters, Journal articles, Poetry, Reference works, and Reviews.

Book chapters includes essays and introductions Cayleff wrote for edited volumes.

Journal articles includes articles published in scholarly journals and periodicals.

Poetry consists of publications in two poetry periodicals and includes the earliest published work by Cayleff found in this collection, a poem written in high school and published in the national high school arts journal Typog.

Reference works includes essays and entries published in encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, and handbooks.

Reviews includes Cayleff's reviews of books by other authors published in scholarly journals, as well as Cayleff's reviews of manuscripts in the process of publication. Each sub-subseries is filed in chronological order.

Series VII, Primary Source Materials dates from 1972 to 2018 and consists of publications and ephemera Cayleff collected over the course of her career. The series is divided into four subseries: Periodicals, Pamphlets, Bibliographies, and Ephemera.

Periodicals consists of newspapers, newsletters and magazines, and news clippings. Significant materals in this sub series include early publications pertaining to the women's liberation movement. Filed alphabetically by title.

Pamphlets consists of political chapbooks, poetry, and a few govermental reports. Filed alphabetically by title.

Bibliographies consists of guides to research published on women's history and a guide to an archival collection of naturopathy materials. Filed alphabetically by title.

Ephemera consists of brochures, flyers, posters and advertising materials. Filed alphabetically by subject.