Colonel Daniel Read Anthony's papers consist primarily of those related to his business enterprises and public offices. Many of these reflect their original arrangement, having been pasted together in reverse chronological order. Others are arranged by subject, subarranged chronologically.

The business papers concern Anthony's Leavenworth Times operations, his work in the insurance business, his political offices, and his property holdings. In his military papers are several letters written between Anthony's contemporaries--one of which contains messages between Civil War commanders Charles R. Jennison and James H. Lane. The papers contain a small quantity of family letters and published accounts, including those regarding the death of Anthony's teenage daughter Susan B. Anthony, biographical sketches of Colonel Anthony, and the published medical report of Colonel Anthony's remarkable recovery from a severe gunshot wound.