The ADA Legislative File contains most of the source material produced by the legislative representative for use by ADA in its lobbying activities, principally in Washington, D.C. It is composed of correspondence, printed and mimeographed materials, notes, drafts, press releases, and reports. The scope of ADA's lobbying activities is quite varied. Interest areas include, but is not limited to, civil rights, cloture, small business, disarmament, electoral reform, aid to education, full employment, public housing, social security, and foreign relations.

This series also contains folders relating to various ADA staff members who served as legislative representatives, including: David Cohen (1963-1964), John J. Gunther (1949-1957), Violet Gunther (1949-1957), Edward E. Hollander (1956-1959), David D. Lloyd (1947-1951), and William L. Taylor (1959); and ADA officers, Samuel Beer (1957-1961), Leon Henderson (1947), Hubert H. Humphrey (1948-1960), Robert R. Nathan (1953), Joseph L. Rauh (1951-1962), Marvin Rosenberg (1953-1957), and Wilson Wyatt (1947-1948).

The series is arranged alphabetically, then chronologically by month within each folder, sometimes in reverse chronological order. The following list indicates whether the contents of any particular folder contain just mimeographed research material, or some correspondence. Those folders that list just dates contain only mimeographed materials, while those labeled "correspondence" include correspondence as well as mimeographed and printed materials. In this series, the printed and mimeographed material is filed in chronological order with the correspondence, but the contents list only provides the inclusive dates of the correspondence, dates which are often overlapped by those of other material within the folder.