The organization of the Original Collection corresponds to the major protest actions in which Schuchardt participated. Major series relate to PLOWSHARES 8, PENTAGON PEACE ACTION, AVCO PLOWSHARES, and the GULF WAR. The final series, GENERAL PEACE ACTIONS, combines information about numerous witnesses for which the quantity of information in the collection is limited.

Documentation about each of the major protests is similar, consisting of correspondence, legal documents, and publicity. Documentation about the smaller protest activities varies and tends to be incomplete. Although many of the actions are documented by correspondence, the majority of the files include letters received rather than copies of outgoing correspondence. As a result, Schuchardt's own views are incompletely documented, and there is little documentation of other aspects of his life.

The PLOWSHARES 8 material, which is alphabetically arranged, is the largest section of the collection. Included are eyewitness statements to the police, FBI lab reports, blueprints of the General Electric plant, and information about the preparation of the legal defense and the expert witnesses whose testimony was not admitted. Court documents, which are extensive (although probably not complete), include appeals, briefs, opinions, transcriptions, notes, and a chronology prepared by Schuchardt. Due to restrictions on the admission of evidence and testimony, some of the legal documents (particularly the group's attempts to initiate a “justification” defense) are probably unique. The correspondence consists of letters received by Schuchardt from his co-defendants, particularly Molly Rush; this correspondence provides excellent documentation of Plowshares' legal planning and strategy, as well as their thoughts and feelings during imprisonment. There is also an extensive amount of correspondence from sympathetic members of the public and friends and one folder concerning the question of sanctuary. With the exception of group letters or correspondence with illegible signatures, this correspondence is alphabetically arranged. Unfortunately there are few letters here written by Schuchardt and no other personal writings; the result is that there are few indications of Schuchardt's own thoughts prior to and after the Plowshares action. The publicity chiefly consists of newspaper clippings, documenting the Plowshares case and also the release of Emile de Antonio's film In the King of Prussia.

The AVCO PLOWSHARES material is similarly subdivided into legal material, correspondence, and publicity. The legal materials here consist of defendants' statements, briefs, testimony of expert witnesses, and Schuchardt's notes. The correspondence is somewhat sketchy, chiefly consisting of incoming letters from supporters. The publicity consists of press releases issued by the group, including an indictment against the AVCO Corporation; news clippings; and notes on Pursuit of Happiness, a documentary film produced by Global Village.

The GULF WAR series also contains legal material, correspondence, and clippings. The legal material here is limited, consisting chiefly of police reports and eyewitness statements, but the correspondence is extensive. It consists of incoming letters of support from lay people and religious leaders, many of which contain insightful discussions of the role of religion in peace activism. Especially noteworthy here is an exchange between Schuchardt's son and President Bush; Bush's photocopied letter contains a handwritten note about the incident. Also of note is an observation about Bush's character and family from Harold Burbank, a Kennebunkport native who was the Bush family caddy and groundskeeper. Once again, Schuchardt's outgoing letters and personal observations are missing. The publicity includes newsclippings about Schuchardt's witness, as well as official White House memos and press releases about the U.S. military involvement in the Persian Gulf.

The GENERAL PEACE ACTIONS series is a mix of alphabetically-arranged material relating to various peace activities, activists, and groups, some of which Schuchardt was directly involved with, while others are topics about which he merely collected information. The series originally contained substantial information about Veterans Fast for Life and various Veterans Peace Action Teams but because this duplicated information in the S. Brian Willson Papers also held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, only documents relating directly to Schuchardt's activities have been retained here. Notable is a photocopied copy of the diary Schuchardt kept during a Veterans Peace Action Team protest in Nicaragua in 1987 in which he and several other protesters walked through the war zone, and an eyewitness account he received from Scott Rutherford about the accident in which Willson lost his leg.