The Josephine Gruhn papers consist of photocopies of scrapbooks and newsletters created between 1982 and 1992 and measure five linear inches. The collection is divided into two series: the scrapbooks and news releases. 

The Scrapbook series pertains primarily to her campaigns and public appearances, containing newspaper clippings, photographs, and campaign ephemera. Each folder consists of photocopies of one scrapbook. There are nineteen numbered scrapbook folders as well as two scrapbook folders concerning her opponents and one containing awards and ephemera. The two scrapbooks about her political opponents consist of the campaign materials produced by Curt Kuehl (1984), Bob Duncan (1986), Ruth Pelzer (1988), and Orville Berg (1990). The last folder contains one photograph, a recognition award presented by the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women in 1997, and a bumper sticker none of which were attached to any scrapbook.

The News Release series consists entirely of Gruhn's weekly or biweekly updates to her constituents while the state legislature was in session from 1983 until 1990. They include a brief discussion of all issuesbeing considered by the Iowa house and by the committees of which Gruhn was a member. They provide a brief account of legislative responses to the farm crisis of the 1980s.