The Commencement Collection, 1822 to date, includes materials such as Amherst College commencement programs, news articles, speeches, class week programs and schedules of events, tickets for events held during class week and commencement, poems and student addresses. The material in this collection dates from the institution's first commencement ceremony in 1822 when it was known as the "Collegiate Charity Institution." Commencement material is added to the collection annually.

This collection is organized into three series:

• 1. Commencement Materials (chronological), 1822-
• 2. Commencement Materials (general), 1909-
• 3. Duplicates, 1836-

Each series is arranged chronologically by commencement year and then by type of material within each year.