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This series covers twenty-five subjects of interest to the Atlantic Chapter, most of which are divided into several secondary topics. The subjects are defined below.

This series includes periodicals and single reports issued by both the Atlantic Chapter and the national Sierra Club. Periodicals put out by the Atlantic Chapter include The Argonaut (1970-1972 included here), Atlantic Chapter News Report (1986-1988, 1990), and Sierra Atlantic (1977-1982, 1984-1992, 1996). The Sierra Atlantic newsletters from Spring 2003 to the present are available online at http://newyork.sierraclub.org/Sierra%20Atlantic/index.htm.

This series documents the Atlantic Chapter's various activities in the political process at the state and national levels. Included here are materials relating to its efforts to influence the 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1998 elections, such as endorsements and voter guides. The 1990, 1992, and 1994 elections are the most extensively documented. Other political activities the Atlantic Chapter engaged in include lobbying the New York State Legislature, tracking national political events (such as the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994), contributing to the revision of New York City's charter in 1989, and general grassroots activities. Also included are Atlantic Chapter documents relating to election law compliance and an electoral activity handbook for Sierra Club activists. There is also documentation of the offices, agencies, and initiatives of New York State government, including materials regarding Governors Mario Cuomo and George Pataki, the Legislature, the Department of Environmental Conservation, regulatory changes undertaken by Governor Pataki, and the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA).

This series documents the Atlantic Chapter's efforts to stop the proposed hydroelectric project near James Bay in northern Quebec in the early 1990s. Hydro-Quebec, the province's public electrical utility, intended to build a series of hydroelectric stations on the Great Whale River (Fr. Grande Baleine), and sell the electricity produced in the United States, particularly to New York and Vermont. This was the second phase of a larger project dating back to 1971. The project involved flooding a large area of northern Quebec, which opponents claimed would have drowned the breeding grounds of several wildlife species, released deposits of mercury into the environment, and disrupted the subsistence habits of the Cree Indians of Quebec. New York State signed two contracts with Hydro-Quebec for James Bay electricity, one for 800 megawatts (MW) and the other for 1000MW in 1989. Efforts by the Sierra Club and other organizations to cancel the contracts began almost immediately, and the project gained wide media attention by 1991-1992, due in part to publicity tours by the Quebec Cree and Inuit in the United States. The contracts were cancelled in 1992 and 1994. Items found in the series include papers by various American and Canadian environmental organizations, materials relating to the two contracts, items by and about the Cree Indians of Quebec, Hydro-Quebec documents (including the complete twenty-seven volume Grande Baleine Complex feasibility study, and a study of the related Sainte Marguerite-3 hydroelectric project), economic and ecological studies, and relevant New York State documents.

This series consists of materials by chapter bodies that relate directly to conservation efforts at both the state and regional levels.

This series includes videotapes and film reels produced by or on topics of interest to the Atlantic Chapter dating from the 1980s. Among them are several public service announcements produced by the Sierra Club, television news reports, and a Canadian film on acid rain.

This series consists of materials relating directly to the operations of the Atlantic Chapter. There is one folder of items covering the late 1960s through the 1970s (General Records, 1967-1979), but most of the series dates from the 1980s and 1990s. The records of important chapter bodies such as eight of the eighteen administrative committees, the Board of Governance, and the Executive Committee are included here, and there are lists of chapter members and officers. Other items found in the series include budget materials, by-laws, fundraising letters, general correspondence, and invoices.