In 1924, in preparation for the Half-Century Celebration, Provost Charles K. Edmunds began assembling data on alumni, under the auspices of the newly formed Alumni Office. Edmunds gathered this material from a variety of sources including the files of the Office of the President, correspondence with alumni, and newspaper clippings.

After the Half-Century Celebration, the Alumni Office continued adding material to the files by employing a professional clipping service and by soliciting information from alumni and from the public relations departments of employers. Using these methods, the office gathered correspondence from alumni, press releases about alumni, and publications by alumni.

In 1973, the functions of Alumni Records were assumed by several groups including the Office of Alumni Information Services. In addition to gathering information for development purposes, Alumni Information Services created an index of 3x5 cards outlining each alumnus' affiliation with Hopkins and his accomplishments since graduation.

The Office of Development and Alumni Services, which evolved from the Office of Alumni Information Services, still maintains this index in computerized form. Some of the original documents from AIS files were sent to the Manuscript Department of the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, and the records pertaining to the medical school and its alumni were sent to the Chesney Medical Archives. The Hamburger Archives received all remaining records, with the clipping file forming the basis for the Archives' vertical reference file.