George Mason University began operation under the name "University College of the University of Virginia" in the fall of 1957 in an 8-room former elementary school in Bailey's Crossroads. The original student body consisted of 17 young men and women from local high schools. The college was renamed "George Mason College" in late 1959 and moved to its first permanent campus at Fairfax during the fall of 1964. George Mason College became independent of the University of Virginia on April 7, 1972 and was renamed George Mason University. In 1979 George Mason's acquisition of the International School of Law in Arlington was approved by the Virginia Legislature, creating the George Mason University School of Law (now known as the Antonin Scalia Law School) upon the Arlington Campus (know known as Mason Square Campus). Today's Science and Technology Campus near Manassas, Virginia was established in 1997, and Mason Korea, located in the Incheon Global Campus, began operations in 2014. Enrollment at all campuses combined totaled over 40,000 in 2024.

Nearly all early official George Mason publications (from the late 1950s until 1972) were designed and printed by the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. They prominently displayed the University of Virginia seal (often on the front cover and title page). These publications included the George Mason College catalog (known as the "Virginia Record") and Schedule of Classes publications. Other publications that were more "local" in nature, such as telephone directories, George Mason College newsletters, reports, and publications prduced for Mason students, staff, faculty, and the public displayed the University of Virginia logos and language much less. After April 1972 the University of Virginia seal and references disappeared, altogether, as George Mason University became an independent entity with its own identity.

Some recurring publications designed to announce class offerings, codify university regulations and policies, report statistical data and university news, and other reference sources are no longer printed (beginning around 2009) and are now published and accessed on-line via the university website (www.gmu.edu).