Consists of 45 manuscript boxes containing material arranged in 6 subseries: nonfiction books (20 boxes), articles (10 boxes), fiction (4 boxes), film synopses and scripts, and speeches (1 box), related material (Z boxes), and fragments and notes (8 boxes). The material is primarily typescript pages of incomplete and unpublished work arranged alphabetically by title.

Book material is collected into complete, or nearly complete, manuscripts. Of particular note are three versions of the same book, Volcanoes on the Moon, 1816: the Year Without a Summer, or Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death, as well as a book about the United Fruit Company, Till the Tropics and Feed the Hungry. Several boxes con-tain individual chapters which could not be identified with a specific book, are variations of identifiable chapters, or are incomplete.

Articles are divided into general subjects and Arkansas subjects. Some of the material is typescript pages of published articles, but much of it appears to be unpublished.

Fiction material is largely unpublished and contains several versions of the same novel, October Song.

A small number of short stories, film synopses and speeches are also typescript and incomplete.

One box in the related material contains reviews of published work collected by CMW through clipping services. Typescript fragments and holograph notes have been divided into fiction and nonfiction when identifiable.