William V. Mayer (1920-1989) received his B.S. At the University of California, Berkeley followed by a Ph.D. in Zoology at Stanford University. He taught biology at the University of Southern California, was the chairman of the Biology Department and associate head at Wayne State University in Detroit, and then moved to the University of Colorado in 1967 where he taught until his retirement in 1982. He has to his credit over 300 professional publications including books, articles and reviews, and the edited series Physiological Mammology.

He was a former president of the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) and edited the publication Scientific Integrity for them. He was also the Associate Director (1963-1965) and then the Director (1965-1982) of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS). Begun in 1959, the BSCS was initially funded by the National Science Foundation. The BSCS were written by professional scientists rather than textbook company editors. The BSCS textbooks presented evolution as an organizing principle of biology, and had the organizational clout to insist the evolution be included despite pressure for local and state opposition. Mayer was a firm opponent of anti-evolution forces. He was a consultant and witness for the State of California for the Segraves v. California case, and testified, along with other nationally prominent scientists such as Stephen Jay Gould during the McLean v. Arkansas creationism trial in Federal District Court in 1982. He, with Wayne Moyer, wrote the textbook review book, A Consumer's Guide to Textbooks, 1985 as part of a People for the American Way campaign in Texas against anti-evolution textbook critics. He wrote and spoke frequently of the threat of "scientific creationism" and the importance of "science as a way of knowing."

The collection includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, journal articles, printed materials, court documents, manuscripts, textbook excerpts, journals, and position statements. Series 1: Anti-Evolution by Area consists of materials relating to anti- evolution flareups by state with special emphasis on Texas and California. Series 2:Subjects consists of subject files defined by Mayer, arranged alphabetically. Series 3:Correspondence consists of correspondence to and from Mayer regarding creation/evolution issues. Series 4: Legal consists on materials relating to court cases involving creationism, legal opinions about creationism and legislative materials about proposed creationism laws. It includes in particular a large selection of materials on the McLean v. Arkansas case and a smaller, though still significant, collection of Aguillad v.Edwards case in Louisiana. Series 5: Manuscripts contain submitted manuscripts for American Biology Teacher, manuscripts of works by Mayer and a long manuscript by William Kaufman about creationism. Series 6: Creationists contains printed materials, articles and correspondence by creationists, including Duane Gish and Jack Chick. Series 7: Articles/References consists of articles, both popular and professional, about creationism, both specific cases and creationism in general. It also contains articles on the biological aspects of evolution. Series 8: NABT contains correspondence and memoranda relating to NABT. It also contains manuscripts from American Biology Teacher. Series 9: Critiques/Journals contains various critiques of creationist positions, as well as anti-creationist journals including Scientific Integrity, Creation/Evolution Journal and Memoranda for the Committees of Correspondence. Series 10: Organizational Positions/Policies contains policies and position statements of various organizations relating to the teaching of evolution.