Archival objects include ephemeral materials such as historical event records, research papers, photographs, microscope slides, catalogues, field notes, specimen- or artifact-associated documentation, videos and other recordings, manuscripts, scrapbooks and journals.

The Photo Collection contains some 20,000 photos and negatives taken mostly in the 1930s-1940s of Moundville and the Tennessee Valley by Walter B. Jones and David DeJarnette.  Other photos taken by Eugene Allen Smith and Robert Hodges include the University of Alabama campus, various Natural History exhibits, field and wildlife photos, and personal family photos.

Some items are permanently housed in the Hoole Library of Special Collections and can be accessed through there.

Copies of Eugene Allen Smith’s field notes during his tenure as State Geologist are also maintained, while the originals reside in Hoole, along with his glass plate negatives of Alabama flowers.