The Roland White Papers are comprised of Mr. White's business correspondence, 1932-1962, mainly while he was serving as editor of the Dubuque Leader. This correspondence is arranged chronologically by months. The collection has been heavily culled and a great quantity of routine business correspondence relating to the operation of the newspaper was discarded, as were most of the newspaper's clipping files.

In addition to the general business correspondence, there are segments of the collection relating to the Archie Carter Case, the Iowa Co-operative Publishing Company, and the Iowa Socialist Party. The Archie Carter material includes the minutes, bills, and receipts of the Archie Carter Defense Committee, 1938-1939; articles, clippings, and speeches relating to Archie Carter; and a portion of Donald Emerson's confession. White's correspondence with Archie Carter is filed in the general business correspondence and covers many years, but with the heaviest concentration from 1938 to 1940.

The Iowa Co-operative Publishing Company is represented by stockholder's minutes, 1936-1961; yearly financial reports, 1938-1960; articles of incorporation and bylaws, 1939-1941; and lists of stockholders and directors, 1936-1961.

The Roland White Papers also include many subject folders relating to the Iowa Socialist Party in the 1930s. These files include general correspondence, 1932-1940; correspondence with local Iowa chapters, 1936; the constitution of the Iowa Socialist Party, 1932; membership lists; minutes of local chapter meetings; and miscellaneous newsletters and other printed materials.

The collection contains three scrapbooks of newspaper clippings relating to Roland White and the Dubuque Leader (volumes 1-3) and one volume of roll calls for the Dubuque Trade and Labor Congress (volume 4).