The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning (incorporating the Melbourne School of Design) at The University of Melbourne is the current custodian of the Cross-Section Collection. The collection is part of the library's rare materials holdings. The rare materials document the history of the Faculty of Building and Planning which stretches back to 1919 when the University established the Melbourne University Architectural Atelier (MUAA) and soon after developed into a University Department and then a University Faculty.

The inaugural Cross-Section newsletter was published in November 1952 by the then Department of Architecture. The collection comprises 219 issues of Cross-Section published from 1952-1971. The publication was sent to architects and master builders throughout Australia to provide updateds on Australian building projects. Architects, builders and planners would send in photographs and records with the aim of having them published in the newsletter.

In 2012, the Cross-Section Digitisation Project began. This project involved the documentation and digitisation of the original Cross Section newsletters alongside the original photographs and associated records that were published in the newsletters. This work culminated in a publically available Finding Aid to the Cross-Section Collection, offering open access to all of the digitised material.

Further work on the project took place in May-June 2018, when the remaining records in the collection were formally registered and documented in the collection. These records included an eclectic assortment of photographs, negatives, correspondence and papers that had not been published in the newsletter and had never before been documented. These records were added to the online Finding Aid and can be found in Series 43 and 44.