The records of the Alternative Press Centre are organized into two sections: correspondence and a miscellaneous file.

The correspondence, (1969-1973)-1975, comprises the bulk of the collection and documents the activities of the Centre in issuing the Index. It reveals staff efforts to devise new subject headings for topics not adequately indexed by traditional headings; to organize a work force of volunteer indexers across the country by contacting interested persons, sending initial instructions, and assigning indexers to publications; to determine which publications to index in each issue; to contact periodicals for establishing subscription exchange programs; to advertise the Index in alternative periodicals and library journals; and to answer routine business correspondence regarding requests for information about the Index and for subscriptions. Although its major activity was publishing the Index, the correspondence also indicates that the Alternative Press Centre informally acted as an information clearinghouse and frequently received requests from people about alternative institutions, the alternative press, and their related research needs. The correspondence also records the problems the Centre encountered including the lack of funding; the failure of interested people to stay with the project; the difficulty of establishing and revising new subject headings; the uncertainty of coordinating a widespread work force of volunteers; and subscribers' complaints caused by the Centre's irregular publishing schedule.

The miscellaneous file is only a small portion of the collection. It includes an advertising brochure, a financial report, a sample of the indexing sheets used in preparing Volume VI, No. 1 of the Index, a brief history of the Centre, a list of indexed periodicals, and a newsletter sent to the volunteer indexers.

In addition to the manuscript materials, the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin has the following publications of the Alternative Press Centre: a complete set of the Alternative Press Index; an “Indexing Guide for Publications dated 1973”, which is an instruction booklet sent to volunteer indexers; and [Miscellaneous publications], composed of an education committee report and a newsletter.