The bulk of the collection focuses on the period from the free silver campaign of 1896 through the end of his Senate career in 1907. A new filing order was established to replace the original order which had been lost over the years. Approximately one-half of the collection is comprised of correspondence files. These files have been arranged chronologically. Items with incomplete dates have been filed at the end of each month, or year, if that part of the date is reasonably certain.
Undated material is located at the end of the correspondence file.
Fragments of letters, and letters between other people, have been filed in the main correspondence file. Some evidence suggests that the original arrangement included extensive subjects files, which contained some of the correspondence. Virtually all of the letters, formally in the subject files, are now filed chronologically I the correspondence file. The subject files are now organized under very broad headings. These headings reflect representative of what topics might be found in the correspondence and scrapbook files.