Series 1, Administrative Files, includes official documentation of the boards including meeting minutes, agendas, treasurer reports, and correspondence. It contains the board meeting minutes and agendas from 1961 to 2000, but with several gaps in time. The series also contains information about the LWVRC's annual meetings (1966-1999), membership (1942-1998), by-laws and policy, and tax returns (1967-1985), again with several gaps in time.
Series 2 includes League publications, both local and national. Like all of the projects described in the administrative history, the League sought to educate and inform the voting public about government and policy in Rensselaer County, New York State, and to a smaller extent, the United States. Publications include a series of pamphlets about specific elections, voting in general, registration facts and candidates. In addition, the collection includes histories about the League and Carrie Chapman Catt, the League's founder. Bulletins from 1942-1990 are also included. The Bulletins were usually monthly and included up-to-date information about League activities. Letters from the Presidents, calendars of events, future and current goals, and projects and legislation of interest were often part of the information included in the Bulletin. Ten years worth of the League's newsletter, The Voter are also part of the series, along with Election Bulletins of the 1940s, and Voter's Bulletins of the 1950s and 1960s. The LWVRC also put out their own publications about local issues including "Troy - Your City," Trojans, Know Your School, Up the Ladder: A Study of Anti-Poverty in Rensselaer County in 1952, 1955 and 1968 respectively.
Series 3, Rensselaer County Government, provides a chronological record of the League's activities concerning the county government from 1952 to 1982. Some of the subject areas include apportionment, the charter, economic development, fair campaign practices and lobbying. The series contains materials on Know Your Rensselaer County, an effort by the LWVRC to bring awareness to Rensselaer County residents about the county government and electoral process within the county. The LWVRC has been involved in this effort since the 1940s, surveying and evaluating the status of the county government and its projects at any given time. The League was especially interested in public health (tuberculosis in particular), children's services, and the county's welfare administration in the 1940s. However, its interests also included jury selection, election participation, population, economy and local history. In the 1960s, the LWVRC began drafting Know Your Rensselaer County, which provided a portrait of the county's various departments, elected offices, and public projects. In 1972, county voters passed a charter-form of government. As a result, the League would become a sort of "watchdog" group for the implementation and execution of the goals of the charter, as will be seen in Series 6. By 1992, the LWVRC published the Rensselaer County Government Workbook as part of its review of the charter. It also expressed the League's position, supporting the County Charter. The purpose of the workbook was to "share information about the County Charter with students and teachers of High School Participation in Government classes as part of the Bicentennial Commission's Education Program."
Series 4, Local Program Studies, includes documentation about the various projects and programs that the LWVRC has taken on. Again focusing on elections and financing, particularly in the schools, the LWVRC provided information to the citizens of the county. Aside from public school related projects, the LWVRC took on apportionment, city planning, land use, criminal justice court reform, human resources development, environment, ERA, health care, housing, international relations, arms control, New York State politics, revenue sharing and reproductive rights.
Series 5, Troy Government, is similar to Series 3 in that the documents provide a chronological account of the LWVRC's involvement in the affairs of Troy's government. The series contains material about the Troy City Charter as the LWVRC has been involved in the oversight and development of Troy's charter since the 1950s. In more recent times, the League has been involved in charter campaigns and revisions, examining the role of the mayor and developing questionnaires about how to improve the city's charter.
Series 6 contains information about Voter Services. Voter Services is the League's most active program, whereby they register people to vote, sponsor election debates, publish literature about candidates and citizens' rights as voters, and oversee the local electoral process in hopes of keeping the process fair and the citizenry well-educated about their rights and responsibilities as voters. This series contains various oversized items, including the League's Election and Voter Guides that were often published as supplements in the local papers. The League advocated high school students' participation in local elections and permanent personal registration. They were also involved in the Troy Housing Authority, Troy Public Library, and Rensselaer School elections. Activities ranged from voter registration, to candidate questionnaires to flyers and pamphlets that provided basic information about voting and the candidates.
Series 7, Subject Files, consists of a more general and broader overview of the LWVRC's programs and activities. The series contains newspaper clippings from 1974 to 1993 on issues surrounding politics and schools, county apportionment, human resources, financing public higher education, investment in developing countries, the New York State Budget Process, public health, redistricting, Troy housing and Troy police court.
Series 8 is made up of audio/visual tapes. There are 5 VHS tapes (1995-1997). In 1995, the League hosted a panel discussion on environmental issues. In 1996, it hosted a public information meeting on financing education and a workshop on the 1996 election. In 1997, it hosted a candidates' forum and a meet the candidates' panel. In addition, the series also includes a 7.5 speed dual track reel of a discussion between Beulah Bailey Thull, the LWVRC's first president, and Mary Stierer, LWVRC president from 1969-71 concerning the city manager form of government, Troy politics and history, the suffrage movement and voter registration. The discussion was for Paul Flanigan's radio show (WTRY) in 1970. There are also 2 UCA60 videocassettes about the 1980 election for Troy mayor. Finally the series contains 3 60-minute audiotapes labeled the "History Project." Taped in 1982, the cassettes are interviews with Ruth Binder, Eva Levy and Mary Stierer, past League leaders.