A study was conducted to determine: (1) whether there is a recognized body of literature dealing with the development of American community colleges, and (2) what relationship exists between those who authored the works in this body of literature and those who are recognized as leaders of the community college movement. A selected group of community college presidents, instructors, and journal editors were asked to rank order the books and articles they felt were significant to the field. The top 15 works were then listed on a second questionnaire that was sent to 874 community college presidents and 63 university professors. They were requested to rank order the ten works which they felt had had the greatest impact. Space was provided to add works that were not on the list. The authors of the works that were considered significant by both surveyed groups were sought on lists of community college leaders that were the results of previous studies. Study results, based on responses from 166 presidents and 46 professors, revealed that 12 of the 15 works obtained a median rating of tenth place or higher; none of the 52 titles that had been written in received a sufficient number of high rankings to be included in the top ten works. Only three of the 12 most highly rated works were by authors not included in a list of community college leaders. The report lists all works investigated and compares the responses of both survey groups. (JP)