This collection documents the career and interests of Robert Andrew Betts, professor of electrical engineering at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, 1926 to 1942. An avid student of Opelika and area history, Betts collected information about the early days of Lee County and its predecessors. The scrapbooks, which are the largest part of the Betts papers reflect this interest.

Items related to Betts career at API are limited. His E.E. notes, "miniaturized" for the lecture are of special interest. Other API material are apparently from his student years.

Betts served on the Opelika Water Board for twenty-eight years. Record from this affiliation include: annual budgets, audit reports, a bond specimen, a radio script, statistical data, infrmation concerning the development of Spring Villa as a recreational area, a small amount of correspondence, and a copy of water board rates, rules, and regulations for 1977.

The Betts papers contain documents of the Opelika Kiwanis Club (programs and news clippings), collected by Betts during his sixty years as a member of the club.

A small group of reords created by Mrs. Katherine Betts, while an officer in the Order of the Eastern Star and the Auburn Pilot Club are also included. The Pilot Club records have been seperated from this collection and placed in the Auburn Pilot Club records, RG 800.

Aproximately 1 cubic foot of artifacts are a part of this collection. There are items related to API, Kiwanis Club, and Masonic orders, but the majority are military relics from Betts's service in World War II.