Chester I. Lewis (1928-1990), a Hutchinson, Kansas native, became a Wichita-based attorney and leader in the modern Civil Rights movement. This collection of his papers primarily reflects his leadership in the NAACP "Young Turks" organization and other civil rights efforts.

The James Ashford Manka papers are concerned primarily with Manka's peripheral activities, including politics and religion. The collection has been arranged by subject. File folders with this subject arrangement were maintained by Manka and fall into five categories and form a rough chronology of Manka's activities.