The materials in the Bernard M. Fry papers consist of correspondence, publications, research records, and teaching material spanning his professional career. The papers, gathered from a large area in Fry's garage after his death, were in no particular order. In many of the boxes loose sheets of paper, not in folders, that documented a variety of subjects and years. Files which appeared to be the administrative records of the IU Graduate Library School were sorted out and placed in a separate collection (although the Fry "Outgoing Correspondence" Series does contain some IU Graduate Library School Correspondence).

The Biographical Series (1930-1993) contains correspondence with and about his wife June Fry, financial documents, yearbooks, scrapbooks, photos, nametags and other keepsakes. Ten photographs and negatives for seven of the pictures were removed and added to the Archives Photograph Collection.

The Professional Associations, Committees, and Workshops Series (1948-1987) consists of correspondence, memoranda, meetings agendas, committee information, and notes and papers documenting Fry's work or association with the following organizations: Office of Technical Services, COSATI, National Science Foundation, Atomic Energy Commission, Special Libraries Association, Government Documents Round Table, American Society for Information Science, and National Commission on Libraries and Information Science. This series is separated into five subseries: General, (1948-1987), Atomic Energy Commission (1948-1966), Clearinghouse, Department of Commerce (1964-1967), Special Libraries Association (1951-1978), National Science Foundation (1950-1964).

The Teaching Files Series (1966-1987) contains materials related to Fry's teaching duties apart from his role as Dean. Included in this series is course materials and sabbatical papers, and also a wide variety of materials related to library science and teaching, but not specifically connected to Fry's work as Dean of the IU School of Library and Information Science.

The Pergamon Press Series (1960s-1988) contains correspondence, articles and information regarding Fry's association with Pergamon Press. Included in the series is material relating to Government Publications Review and Information Processing and Management, the international journals edited by Fry in the 1970's and 1980's. The series is divided into five subseries: General (1968-1986), Correspondence (1967-1987), Government Publications Review (1960s-1986), Information Processing and Management (1967-1988), and Information Storage and Retrieval (1969-1984).

The Publications Series (1955-1992) contains works published by Bernard M. Fry, including his textbook Publishers and Libraries: A Study of Scholarly and Research Journals, the reports "Evaluation Study of ERIC Products and Services" and "Government Publications: Public Availability and Access." The series also includes his pamphlets and journals, speeches and conference papers.

The Correspondence Series (1951-1988) consists of files related to Fry's work with the Pergamon Press, his other activities during this period, and correspondence of the Graduate Library School. It appears that his secretary for this period made no distinction between Fry's personal papers and those of the School when filing these records. Some of this correspondence should more properly be with the Graduate Library School's administrative files for that period (see C167), but because it was not feasible to remove them, they remain in this series.