The majority of the records cover the years 1966-1974 and document the organization's research, lobbying, educational, and legal activities. The collection has been divided into six series: Administrative Subject Files, General Correspondence, Committee Files, General Subject Files, Note Fragments, and Indexes.

The ADMINISTRATIVE SUBJECT FILES constitute the most informative series in the collection. The Agenda and Minutes provide a detailed record of the monthly meetings of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors, as well as the far less frequent meetings of the general membership. Unfortunately, no minutes exist for 1975 and only one meeting in 1976 is recorded. Many Treasurer's Reports are also missing. The Position Papers and Public Statements best define the principal environmental issues in which the organization was involved. They vary from extensive committee reports to brief statements made before city advisory committees or the state legislature. They are arranged alphabetically by subject; most are undated. This file also includes an “Environmental Bill of Rights” stating general environmental goals for the Madison community. The Publicity file consists primarily of magazine articles on the Orchid and Onion awards and a list of locally produced television videotapes describing various CCC activities.

The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE series includes letters and memoranda to and from the president, vice president, and board of directors, discussing the entire range of CCC activities. Correspondents include members, representatives of environmentalist organizations, and political figures, among them Robert Kastenmeier, Patrick Lucey, Gaylord Nelson, William Proxmire, and Madison mayors William Dyke, Otto Festge, and Paul Soglin. Only one letter, which invites selected citizens to the first organizational meeting, pre-dates 1965.

The COMMITTEE FILES constitute the largest series and reflect CCC's heavy reliance upon committee organization. A typical file includes correspondence initiated by committee chairmen, minutes of committee meetings, and background material such as unpublished reports. The Membership Committee File also includes annual membership rosters; and the Program Committee file, speeches delivered at annual meetings by Charles E. Little of the Open Space Institute (1969) and by Patrick Lucey, governor of Wisconsin (1974). Missing are the records of the Landmarks Committee, which eventually took on quasi-independent status in order to attract the more specialized membership it felt necessary to identify and preserve historically and architecturally important structures effectively.

In the GENERAL SUBJECT FILES are a wide variety of materials relating to activities that were not referred to a committee, as well as reference files containing county and city staff reports, proposed ordinances, brochures describing other local citizen action groups, and miscellaneous unpublished studies and fact sheets.

The INDEXES, compiled in 1974, consist of two sets of note cards. The first set is arranged chronologically and abstracts board minutes and newsletters. The second provides subject access to correspondence and newsletters and also indexes newspaper articles concerning CCC and local environmental issues published in the Capital Times, Wisconsin State Journal, and Monona Community Herald.