Records relating to the work of the Program Department begin in 1959, but chiefly concern the period from 1961 to 1964. Their lack of completeness makes it difficult to describe the Department's specific functions. The Program Department was responsible for co-ordinating certain important national CORE projects, such as the Freedom Rides and the Interstate Commerce Commission projects of 1961, and the Freedom Highways project of 1962. It also organized the area conferences so that the local chapters could exchange information and co-ordinate their activities; it helped with planning the CORE Leadership Conferences, which were important in training the younger leaders in non-violent direct action methods. It investigated possible projects and made inquiries to other organizations concerning their experiences with various projects.

These records mainly consist of the correspondence of Norman Hill, who was Program Director for most of the time between 1961 and 1964. However, there are also records of Gordon Carey, who became Program Director after having been in charge of supervising the field representatives. Evidently, some of his functions as Field Director carried over into the formation of the Program Department, since there are field reports and correspondence with CORE field representatives included in the material.