The Poage papers cover the life of W. R."Bob" Poage from the mid-1920s until his death in 1987. While the bulk of the papers are from his congressional years, 1937 to 1978, there are also materials in the Personal and Political Materials series dealing with his life as a Texas State Senator in the 1930s and in retirement in the 1980s.

The massive congressional papers, 1937-1978, contain the usual government files for agencies, commissions, departments, committees, legislation, correspondence, and case files, both civilian and military. The points of interest here are the Agriculture Committee files, files for ninety-seven government agencies, Rural Electrification Administration files, and the Brazos River Authority.

The Personal Papers are divided into eight sub-series: Travel Files and Diaries, Speeches, Card Files, Biographical Materials, Photographs, Supplemental Materials, Media, Awards, and Maps. The General series includes information about Poage's family, the death of his wife, guest books, and inaugural invitations. Media Materials include recordings and historic newspapers.

Speeches by Poage were collected into three-ring binders. There is a chronological list of speeches for each year. These lists have also been placed into the Poage Index. Newsletters were annotated extensively, more so as the years progressed. All of the annotations which eventually were longer than the newsletter, have been placed in two large notebooks for researchers. There is also a complete list of photographs included in the Index volume.

Five kinds of materials were designated for sampling/discarding: Academy applications, Bills/reports, Comptroller General Reports, Periodicals, and Periodical samples. Lists of materials were typed and placed in the finding aid. All Comptroller Reports were sent to cataloging. Most of the periodicals and samples were from 1978, the last year Poage was in Washington. Only a few were retained.