The collection contains documents related to U.S. bioethics commissions and other federal agencies that belonged to Barbara F. Mishkin. This includes the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, the Ethics Advisory Board, the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research Records, and the Office of Technology Assessment.
The collection consists of records of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's Ethics Advisory Board, which existed from 1978 to 1979.