The collection dates from 1862 to 1916, and consists of 3.5 linear feet of correspondence and printed material such as articles and legislation. It is arranged by item number and indexed by both author and subject. The correspondence includes letters from Albert B. Cummins, Jonathan P. Dolliver, Stuyvesant Fish, George D. Perkins, Theodore Roosevelt, Leslie M. Shaw, William H. Taft, and Henry Wallace. The topics discussed range from banking and currency reform to Indian affairs, Oklahoma statehood to the Panama Canal, and railroads to Republicans. The bulk of William B. Allison's papers are held by the Iowa State Department of History and Archives in Des Moines, Iowa. Included in this collection are two boxes of printed materials and a small box of letters which are unprocessed. Series III is the index, which is comprised of names and subjects, along with the corresponding item number. Subjects are listed in capitals. The asterisk (*) indicates a recipient of a manuscript.