Begun in 1940 and held annually each year except for two years during World War II, the Indiana University Writers' Conference was originally organized by IU English professor Cecelia H. Hendricks to provide aspiring writers with the opportunity to learn from and interact with more experienced and often nationally renowned or award-winning authors.

Throughout its history, Conference Directors such as Ralph Collins, who took over in 1941, Robert Mitchner, and Roger Mitchell, amongst many others, and up until the current Director, Bob Bledsoe, have reached out over the years to numerous authors, editors, and literary agents to lead workshops in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Other topics, such as radio scripts and blogging reflected the writing styles and techniques popular to their day.

Though much of the correspondence within this collection represents failed efforts to convince well-known authors to present at the Conference, many of staff's efforts were successful, bringing a variety of significant literary figures to teach in Bloomington. As noted by Kurt Vonnegut, a 1964 faculty member, it's "the most respectable writers' conference I know."