The collection consists of various letters concerning train and railway-related issues from 1910 to 1953; train part blueprints; some financial data from 1937 to 1944; letters and documents from 1922 to 1952 regarding brake parts; and letters and documents from 1936 to 1948 regarding bar and roller bearings.

La Yarda was a neighborhood of housing owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and used to house its workers, primarily those that immigrated from Mexico. This collection contains research about La Yarda and the role it played in the establishment of the Mexican-American community in Lawrence, Kansas, conducted by Brenna Buchanan for a project when a University of Kansas architecture student.

The Charles and Julia Dandridge family papers are those of a longtime African American Topeka, Kansas family. The papers specifically focus on the couple's older son, Pearl Milburn Dandridge, and his family.

This collection consists of various writings composed by William C. Hoad, many regarding historical topics about Kansas or the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. Some of the writings were published, some were given as talks at social clubs or elsewhere.