Mrs. Roe's papers consist primarily of letters she received, notes and drafts of her writings and lectures, as well as family diaries, household and office expense books, and writings, notes, and memorabilia of Gilbert Roe. The collection is divided into four categories: correspondence, writings, teaching career, and family records and biographical materials.
The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, and separated into two categories, general and family. The general correspondence includes a large number of letters from members of the LaFollette family, especially Fola, copies of letters to the Roes from the La Follette collection in the Library of Congress, and excerpts of letters Mrs. Roe received on Robert M. La Follette, Jr.'s death. In addition there are letters from many progressives and radicals, such as Mary Beard, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, Marie and Frederic Howe, Cora (Mrs. Freemont) Older, and Lincoln Steffens. There are a few letters from China in the 1930s by Agnes Smedley and Mrs. Roe's nephew, John King Fairbank. Mrs. Roe also corresponded with Helen (Mrs. David) Lilienthal, whom she knew in Norris, Tennessee. Copies of letters from Gilbert and Mrs. Roe to people outside the family are arranged under “Roe” with general correspondence, including a fragment of a letter from Mrs. Roe to “My dear friend” in which she writes of Upton Sinclair. The bulk of the family correspondence consists of letters between Gilbert and Mrs. Roe before their marriage, when he was Robert La Follette's law partner. Much of the family correspondence is undated, but when possible it is arranged chronologically, as well as by correspondent. The letters Mrs. Roe received on her husband's death are included with the family letters as well as correspondence concerning the disposition of Mr. Roe's papers.
A major portion of Mrs. Roe's writings consists of unsorted notes and drafts of an autobiography she worked on for twenty years. She describes her early life in Iowa, the frontier town of Chamberlain, South Dakota, the Dakota Indians, a meeting with Sitting Bull, Chicago in the 1880s, Washington, D.C., and her teaching experiences there in the 1890s, McKinley's inaugural ball, and meeting Clara Barton. The autobiography is rich in anecdotal material about the La Follette family, as well as progressive and radical circles in New York in the early 1900s. Also included in Mrs. Roe's writings are notes for speeches in support of women's suffrage and the Women's Peace Party, critiques of the public schools, notes on education, a description of the Yankton Indian school, drafts of an article “On Being Eighty,” as well as unsorted drafts and notes for miscellaneous articles and speeches.
The material from Mrs. Roe's teaching career consists of class lists, lesson plans, printed course descriptions, as well as unsorted lecture notes and drafts of articles on the Delsarte method of physical education.
Family records and biographical materials include miscellaneous writings and notes by Gilbert Roe; an inventory of his papers; his office account book, 1927-Jan. 1930; personal, household, and office expense books, 1900-1904; descriptions and leases of the places the family lived; a diary of Mrs. Roe, 1884; and several diaries of their son, Jack Roe, 1918-1921. Mrs. Roe's autograph book from the 1880s and '90s contains Clara Barton's signature. A diary of clippings kept by Mrs. Roe's father, John King, highlights some of the concerns of people in South Dakota in the 1880s and 1890s.
