The processed portion of these papers includes 12 linear feet described in five series. They comprise the editorial files for 100 Years of Science and Technology in Texas, published by Rice University Press in 1986. Professor Swenson, of the University of Houston, and Reverend Leo Klosterman, of the University of St. Thomas, co-edited the work, which was sponsored by Sigma Xi, a scientific research society. The materials date from 1977 to 1987.

Included are correspondence with publishers, editors, and authors of the chapters in the books. There are also various drafts of the chapters, page proofs, critiques of the chapters by Swenson, Klosterman, and other contributors, galley proofs, notes, chronologies, outlines, and dust jackets. All chapters and proofs have been arranged according to the arrangement of the published work.

There is also a considerable amount of correspondence and materials related to the Southeast Texas Sigma Xi Council, which sponsored the production of the volume. The minutes of the society, which have been left with the correspondence to which they were attached, provide insight into the organizational and financial difficulties encountered in producing the commemorative volume. Additional materials include items related to the Texas Sesquicentennial and the Robert A. Welch Foundation. Among the Welch Foundation materials were annual reports and research bulletins, published between 1977 and 1984, which have been removed from the collection; copies are available in the University of Houston Pharmacy Library.

The collection has been arranged in five series: Correspondence, Drafts, Proofs, Miscellaneous, and Sesquicentennial Materials. A sixth series contains unprocessed materials from the 2015 additions.