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Charles McKinley was born in Fulton, South Dakota and educated at the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin. From 1918 to 1960 he was professor of political science at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He was particularly interested in the theory and practice of public administration and planning, and as a specialist in these fields often served on government committees and commissions. He wrote two major studies on the impact of the federal government in the Pacific Northwest: Uncle Sam in the Pacific Northwest (Berkeley, CA, 1952), and The Management of Land and Related Water Resources in Oregon (Washington, D. C., 1965).
The papers, arranged as record groups, are the files accumulated for specific projects undertaken for government or private agencies, or for personal research, and include correspondence, minutes, reports, memoranda, position papers, interviews, and documents. Major files are: Bonneville Power Administration; Bonneville Regional Advisory Council; Bureau of Land Management; California Department of Water Resources; Department of Agriculture Administrative Council; Northwest Regional Council; Forest Service; National Planning Board (National Resources Board, National Resources Committee, National Resources Planning Board); Northwest Forest Pest Action Committee; Oregon Legislative Interim Commission on Administrative Reorganization, 1930; Oregon State Board of Forestry; Oregon and California Advisory Board; Pacific Northwest Field Committee (U. S. Department of the Interior); Pacific Northwest Regional Social Science Research Council, study of administration in the Department of Agriculture.