The correspondence section, consisting of approximately 14,500 items arranged chronologically, documents Dorson's determination to turn the American Folklore Society and American folklore studies away from amateurism toward rigorous scholarship. He set standards for folklore scholarship on all levels--research, documentation, writing, and the material to be studied. The correspondence also shows Dorson's wide network of national and international relationships established with numerous scholars over the years.

Writings in the collection are divided into those by Dorson and those by other folklorists, historians, and colleagues. Materials for the following books by Dorson are represented here: African Folklore (1972), America Begins (1950), America in Legend (1973), America Rebels (1953), American Folklore (1959), American Folklore and the Historian (1971), American Negro Folktales (1967), Bloodstoppers and Bearwalkers (1952), The British Folklorists: A History (1968), Buying the Wind (1964), Davy Crockett, American Comic Legend (1939), Folk Legends of Japan (1961), Folklore and Fakelore (1976), Folklore and Folklife: An Introduction (1972), Folklore and Traditional History (1973), Folklore in the Modern World (1974), Folklore Research Around the World: A North American Point of View (1961), Folklore: Selected Essays (1972), Folktales Told Around the World (1975), Handbook of American Folklore (1983), Jonathan Draws the Long Bow (1946), Land of the Millrats (1981), Man and Beast in American Comic Legend (1982), Negro Folktales in Michigan (1956), Negro Tales from Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Calvin, Michigan (1958), Peasant Customs and Savage Myths: Selections from the British Folklorists (1968), and Studies in Japanese Folklore (1963).

He edited and wrote the foreword to all volumes of the Folktales of the World Series, and both drafts and/or final manuscript copy of many of these volumes are in the collection. The type of material present for Dorson's publications varies but most often includes research materials, drafts of manuscripts, galleys and page proofs, corrected proofs, book production materials, publicity and reviews. There are also materials for about ten more books which he was considering publishing.

Dorson also wrote approximately 200 articles, most of which are represented in the collection in various phases of development from notes to final printed item. He prepared numerous reviews of printed works and frequently provided critical evaluations of items that had been submitted for publication, and many of these are present or are represented in these files. Papers and/or notes for papers presented at conferences and seminars, as well as materials relating to several journals (especially the Journal of the Folklore Institute), and series (particularly the Indiana University Folklore Institute Monographs Series), which he edited are also here.

Fieldwork and research materials in the collection include notes, transcriptions, and field tapes from Dorson's work in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the 1940s; in Calvin, Michigan and Pine Bluff, Arkansas in the early 1950's; in Jonesport, Maine, 1956; and in northern Indiana, 1968 and mid 1970s. These files highlight areas of special interest to Dorson--early American heroes; Black, immigrant, occupational (lumberjacks, cowboys, miners, railwaymen, steelworkers), and urban lore; as well as lore of the youth and countercultures of the 1960s.

Dorson's Indiana University related files include materials for the Folklore Department, the Folklore Institute, the Folklore Archives, the Archives of Traditional Music, the History Department, and various University committees. Also here are papers of folklore and history students, dissertation materials, and Dorson's class notes.

The remaining files in the collection are a miscellany of materials pertinent to Dorson's career, including his testimony in 1970 Senate hearings for an American Folklife Bill. The many societies and councils of which Dorson was a member and the many conferences which he attended are also represented. Dorson's personal files, in addition to regularly updated vitae, include materials on grants and fellowships. Other files contain materials on a film about the Northeast Sea Community, photographs, and printed items. Amongst the last are journals, newsletters, and clippings on Dorson, on the Folklore Institute and Department, and on folklore in general.