Philip Hamer kept this typed diary during the controversy at the University of Tennessee over President Harcourt A. Morgan dismissing Professor J. W. Sprowls, allegedly because Sprowls had assigned a text discussing evolution entitled Mind in the Making. The manuscript also mentions Morgan's firing of Assistant Professor of Art Ada (Haun) Withers (1886-1978) on similar grounds.

Hamer begins his diary by explaining that "the events of the past week are of sufficient interest to merit record." He removed some names and abbreviated others, but he was intimately acquainted with many of the participants and was involved to a greater extent than he wished. This diary records conversations and emotions in addition to events and is very detailed.