Arlene Maude Sykes (1928 - 1990), was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Queensland and the founding Principal Advisory Editor of Australasian Drama Studies. In the 1950s she commenced work at the ABC on Australian theatre. She was a scholar, critic and teacher of Australian drama and literature and the author of numerous critical studies. She edited several volumes of playtexts by Australian writers, including those of her colleague Eunice Hanger. She was Principal Investigator for the Australian Drama Bibliography Project. Her list of Australian Drama Productions 1950 to 1969 was published by the Fryer Library in 1984.

The archive documents the history of the press from about 1965, the time of University of Queensland Press's expansion from a university publications outlet into a fully-fledged publishing house. UQP has a strong focus on Australian studies and has produced series such as Paperback Poets, Poets on Record, Australian Authors, Studies in Australian Literature, Black Australian Writers and Australian public figures and Australian public issues on tape. Authors with production files in the collection include Peter Carey, Olga Masters, David Malouf, Thomas Shapcott, John Manifold, Michael Dransfield, Janette Turner Hospital, Nancy Cato, Judith Rodriguez, Ross Fitzgerald and Denis Murphy.