The E.H.S. Bailey collection of personal papers includes primarily record books kept by Bailey, who documented in them his own academic study and research and his participation in forensic investigations and chemical seminaries, as well as the administrative duties of chemistry professorship and the Kansas State Board of Health. These materials date from the 1870s to 1905.

The collection also contains a photocopy of Bailey's doctoral thesis, a copy of his laboratory manual used in classes at K.U., and a scrapbook dating to 1923 commemorating 40 years of service to the University.

Unless otherwise indicated, Bailey himself is the author or recorder of the information. Individual record books are arranged chronogically by earliest date of range of material covered.

In 2009, further materials concerning genealogy, family correspondence, photographs, and his sons were added to the collection by surviving descendants. Included at this time were volumes written by E.H.S. Bailey, a French Chemistry text (1647) from the family library, family legal and estate papers and correspondence from throughout the 19th century, and an oil painting of E.H.S. Bailey's maternal grandmother, Charity Birdsey Miller.