The Bruner Foundation Records consist of five series: the Administration Files, Educational Programs, Grants, the Rudy Bruner Award for Excellent in the Urban Environment, and Photographs. These records document the foundation's activities that have occurred since 1965 and include three directors: Richard Herson, Edith Friedman, and Janet Carter.

Administration Files, 1980-1996, contain three major types of records. The records of the Board of Trustees include correspondence, meeting minutes, and notes on the meetings taken by Janet Carter. The notes taken by Janet Carter offer a more detailed look at the meetings and are extremely useful when used in conjunction with the official minutes. The minutes contain discussions about the internal structure of the organization and about the grants made by the foundation including the Rudy Bruner Award for Excellence in the Urban Environment.

Correspondence files include general correspondence and subject files with specific organizations. The foundation's relations with the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) are included in this series since they worked together frequently during the Rudy Bruner Award competitions. Both Bruner and HUD saw a need in the Los Angeles area shortly after the Rodney King beating and took a research trip to gather information that would later assist with programs to help during the crisis.

The records of the executive director, Janet Carter, contain her essays and speeches, correspondence, and her involvement with the Council on Foundations and Grant makers Evaluation Network. She chaired committees in both organizations, spoke at conferences, and co-edited the Grant-makers Evaluation Network Newsletter.

Educational Programs, 1980-1996, contain four main areas of concentration. The Bruner Foundation evaluated two main educational programs called the Community Schools and the Guidance Initiative. These files consist of correspondence, staff reports on site visits, and final reports of the programs. In both cases, consultants were hired by the foundation to visit and observe the schools. Each consultant took careful notes of their visit. These notes were transcribed and make a direct link between the final reports and what exactly was occurring in the classrooms. The Community Schools Project was intended to improve classroom performance in both students and teachers. The Guidance Initiative was focused mainly on junior high school students (grades 6-8). Its purpose was to assist children by preparing them to make wise decisions about their choice of high school. Program directors and consultants wanted the students to select a high school geared toward their personal academic interests. To meet that end, they engaged the help of teachers, guidance counselors, and parents.

This series also contains information on an educational conference sponsored by the foundation on the consultants hired by the foundation to evaluate programs. These records contain correspondence, reports, notes, and, in the case of the Educational Conference, a detailed description of proceedings. Janet Carter diligently took notes of all her work. As with the Board of Trustees records, her notes fill in gaps left in the official records. Many site personnel files are followed by notes made by Janet Carter during informal meetings and telephone conversations.

The Grants Files, 1965-1995, contain correspondence, reports, and grant proposals funded by the Bruner Foundation. The primary grant topics are education, health, and Jewish concerns. Subject files include the authority or signed agreement between the foundation and the grant recipient, proposals presented to the foundation, papers written on the grant funded by the foundation and the grant's impact, meeting minutes, and conferences sponsored by the organization being funded. Two grants that demonstrate the foundation's grant making process are the Nurse Practitioners and the Crossroads School. Each contains the important aspects of the process such as the proposal, correspondence, and frequent progress reports. The Nurse Practitioners grant was made in the early part of 1970 and records the foundation's early emphasis in the field of medicine and medical training. The grant to Crossroads School was made in 1992 and is a source of information about the later emphasis of the foundation on education and evaluation.

Rudy Bruner Awards for Excellence in the Urban Environment Records, 1984-1995, are one of the most important focuses of the Bruner Foundation. This series contains records on the history of the award and its first five award cycles (1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, and 1995). These records carefully document the awards process. This series contains correspondence, meetings of both the selection committee and the task force, information gathered for the book publication, finalist information, and publicity for the award. The awards files are arranged in chronological order. The cycles occur in this order: call for entries, meetings of the selection committee, site visits by the task force, selection of finalists, publication of the awards book, and publicity for the finalists. Further information about the Rudy Bruner Awards can be found in the Board of Trustees minutes. Award applications are located in the Lockwood Memorial Library's Special Collections at the University of Buffalo (call number: MicFiche HT175.R83).

Photographs and Tapes, 1973-1994, consist of photographs of grant projects, the Rudy Bruner Awards winners, and the Rudy Bruner Awards Presentation. This collection contains four tapes, one video and three audio. The video tape is a news broadcast about the Farmer's Market, one of the finalists for the Rudy Bruner Award. One audio tape is a report given by Edith Friedman about a Physician's Assistant Conference and the other is a radio broadcast about the Senior Medical Consultants. The Physician's Assistant and Senior Medical Consultants were both programs funded by the Bruner Foundation. The third audio tape is a task force meeting prior to the selection of the winner for the 1995 Rudy Bruner Award.