This collection consists of manuscript drafts, correspondence, journals, event information, and other documentation of Denise Low's professional and personal life. The collection has been organized into 8 series: Works; Events; Publicity; Alphabetical files; Professional activities; Family documents; Journals; and materials that had been laid in publications that have been separately cataloged by Spencer staff. Works comprises the bulk of the collection and has been further subdivided into subseries for Major Works; Poetry; Short prose; and Scholarly articles/publications.

Correspondence associated with specific manuscript materials was kept with its respective manuscripts. Correspondence is organized chronologically as new drafts were created over time. Correspondence not associated with a specific manuscript is organized alphabetically within each appropriate series (i.e. the Alphabetical files or the Family documents).

When possible, materials on a singular topic have been consolidated together. However, in an attempt to follow some of Low's own organizational style, material on some topics may be found in several series, such as in both Works and Publicity, the Alphabetical files, and/or Professional activities.

Oversize materials have been physically separated from the rest of the collection for their preservation and are typically described at the end of each series or sub-series in which they belong.

This series consists of drafts, final products, correspondence, and material related to works written by Low. It has been further sub-divided into 4 sub-series: Major Works; Poetry; Prose; and Scholarly articles/works written for periodicals.

This sub-series contains material pertaining to Cheyenne Ledger Art, A Daybook of Interiors, Delaware Diaspora, Dragon Kite, Ghost Stories, Langston Hughes, Learning the Language of Rivers, Natural Theologies, New and Selected Poems, Prairie Alchemist, Selective Amnesia, Thailand Journal, Tulip Elegies, William Stafford, Spring Geese, Starwater, Quilting, Jackalope, 3 Voices, and other book-length works by Low.

"Delaware Diaspora" was the early working title of the book The Turtle's Beating Heart: One Family's Story of Lenape Survival, published by Bison Books, an imprint of University of Nebraska Press, in 2017. Since materials in this collection are identified as "Delaware Diaspora," that title has been respected and used throughout the finding aid and in labeling folders.

Materials labeled Selective Amnesia, Lacuna, and Body Memory appear to be the same manuscript but in different configurations and have thus been housed together.

Material in this collection related to two Native American ledgers located at the Kansas State Historical Society, Wild Hog Ledger and Northern Cheyenne Ledger, largely consists of drafts of the written information accompanying specific images digitized from these two ledgers. These images and the information associated with them are available through PILA, an online resource "dedicated to the celebration of Plains Indian 'Ledger' art for research and enjoyment" found at plainsledgerart.org. Low also wrote and presented about these ledgers in other venues; therefore information about them has been consolidated as much as possible into this sub-series. In 2020 Low published a book, Northern Cheyenne Ledger Art by Fort Robinson Breakout Survivors with coauthor Ramon Powers, drafts of which are included.

Reviews about specific works within this sub-series and other materials related to specific major works are included with those works.