Correspondence, speeches, clippings, photographs, and other materials, most of which date from 1899 to 1927, pertaining to Hays' education, to his law practice, and to his political career, as well as his personal, religious, fraternal, and civic interests and activities.

Materials pertain particularly to his administration as Governor of Arkansas, 1913-1917, especially as regards the Southern Governors' Cotton Convention of 1915; the collection of and extension of payments of state taxes due, 1915-1916; proposed prohibition legislation, 1916; and controversies surrounding the State Penitentiary and the State Hospital for Nervous Diseases, 1914-1915.

Correspondents include Homer Martin Adkins, Coleman Livingston Blease, Robert Graves Bowers, Oscar Branch Colquitt, Lee Cruce, Luther Egbert Hall, William Gibbs McAdoo, Edmund James Archibald McKinney, Elliott Woolfolk Major, William Peabody Malburn, Lucius Eugene Pinkham, Furnifold McLandel Simmons, John Marshall Slaton, and George A. Thornburgh.