This series is arranged alphabetically by town and then alphabetically by photographers in that town. Kansas towns that start with the same letter are grouped together into a sub-series. The town name is the file name, with the photographers and subjects described in the notes. Towns that have many photographers have their own sub-series with the photographer as the file name and the subjects of the images described in the notes. Photographers from other states are grouped by state at the end of the series, as are unidentified photographers.

In general, the photographers had their names, or business name, along with the town stamped onto the card with the photograph. Some of the photographers were "traveling," meaning that they took their equipment with them from town to town, but did not have a town name stamped on their cards. The traveling photographers are placed in their own sub-series. In addition, some photographers had a studio in two or more towns. In these cases, the photograph is placed with the town listed first on the cabinet card, with a reference to the other towns listed in the notes. If there is an inscription with a mention of another town on the cabinet card, the photograph will be housed with the town of the photographer and reference will be made in the notes.

In general, three card-mounted photographs are housed in each folder.

Oversize photographs (generally those that are larger than a file folder) have been housed separately and have been described under the town name, at the end of the sub-series.