The records of the National Woman's Party span the years 1850-1975, with the bulk of the material dating from the party's founding as the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage by Alice Paul in 1913 to the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Congress in 1972. The collection documents the Party's efforts to promote congressional passage of both the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing women the right to vote and the Equal Rights Amendment. The National Woman's Party Records consist of correspondence, personal papers, administrative files, minutes of meetings, financial and legal records, photographs, memorabilia, printed matter, and miscellaneous items. The collection, which also includes the papers of the World Woman's Party organized by Paul in 1938, is arranged in four groups and an oversize series.

Group I of the National Woman's Party Records is mostly concerned with efforts to secure passage of the woman's federal suffrage amendment. The records reflect the culmination of over fifty years of suffrage advocacy and document the creation and development of the National Woman's Party as an active participant in the women's rights movement. Though spanning the years 1889-1940, Group I dates primarily from 1913 to 1920, the period during which the party was most active in the suffrage campaign, and contains correspondence, administrative files, printed matter, medals and ribbons, and photographs. In 1981, the Microfilming Corporation of America (MCA) organized Group I of the National Woman's Party Records for microfilm reproduction. Records not included by MCA in the microfilm edition of Group I have been removed and reorganized as Group IV, Addition I. Photographs reproduced in the microfilm edition represent only a selection of the originals listed in Group I.

Following the ratification of the nineteenth amendment, the National Woman's Party began its campaign for equal rights for women. While the party worked towards raising the legal, social, and economic status of women in the United States and around the world, it focused on passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Group II of the National Woman's Party Records reflects the party's efforts in this regard from 1850 to 1974, with the bulk of the material dating from 1913. Group II is organized in eight series as follows: Correspondence, Minutes, Legal Papers, Financial Records, Printed Matter, Photographs, World Woman's Party Papers, and Addendum.

Group II was received by the Library in 1979 following its organization and reproduction on microfilm by MCA. Since the Library does not possess a copy of this microfilm, Group II may be accessed for research in original form. The scope and content of Group II are fully described in the guide to the microfilm edition, , edited by Thomas C. Pardo, which is available in the reference collection of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress. Items that MCA chose not to film were reorganized at various times and arranged as Group III and Group IV, Addition II.

Group III spans the years 1912-1971 and is organized in the following series: Correspondence, Account Books, and Miscellany. Group III supplements Groups I and II and provides additional documentation on the administrative operations and organizational development of the party. Group III further identifies the individuals who sponsored the party's programs and documents the political and socioeconomic groups from which the party drew its greatest strength. The Correspondence series pertains largely to routine financial affairs, including fund-raising activities and appeals and the operations of the Investment and Endowment Fund Committee, which was responsible for the investment and distribution of party funds. Other topics discussed in the correspondence include routine administrative directives, subscription requests for the party's publications, and , efforts to repeal section 213 of the Economy Act of 1932, membership requests, donation acknowledgments, attempts to promote jury service for women, and general information and reference inquires.

The Account Books series contains records related to financial and investment accounts, donations, subscriptions, and memberships. The Miscellany series includes contributor and membership lists, financial records, minutes of meetings, reports, speeches and writings, and other items. Records are also included which chronicle cooperative efforts with other woman's organizations and with the international women's movement.

Group IV of the records is composed of three separate additions. Addition I and Addition II comprise material not included in the arrangement and microfilming of Groups I and II, respectively. Among the types of papers and records included in these additions are correspondence, personal papers, administrative records, financial and legal records, contributor and membership lists, printed matter, and duplicates. Addition III contains correspondence, administrative files, subject files, and miscellaneous items that have not been filmed.

Addition I spans the years 1884-1963, though most of the material documents the suffrage period from 1913 to 1920. The addition is organized by type of material, similar to the corresponding arrangement of Group I, and contains correspondence, administrative files, and printed matter. The correspondence contains field reports and memoranda concerning political campaigns, the organization of state branches, and the ratification campaign. Also included are copies of affidavits dating from 1917 to 1920 concerning the treatment of imprisoned suffragists. The administrative files are composed largely of reports and minutes of various party committees and departments, including those of the . Although many of the items in this addition duplicate material from the microfilm edition of Group I, both sources should be consulted in order to obtain a more complete record.

Addition II consists mostly of the personal papers of several party members. The addition spans the years 1876-1968 with most of the items dated from 1920 to 1950. Party members and officers whose personal papers are contained in this addition include Jean Kane Foulke, Lucia Hanna Hadley, Dora G. Ogle, Alice Paul, and Helen Hunt West. The addition further includes contributor and membership lists, financial and legal records, memorabilia, and other miscellaneous items.

Addition III spans the period 1898-1975, with the bulk of the material dating from the 1920s to the 1950s, declining in volume over time. It contains correspondence, administrative files, subject files, and miscellaneous records relating to the internal organization and financing of the National Woman's Party, legislative initiatives and political strategies designed to promote the Equal Rights Amendment, and material concerning the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. The addition sheds light on several of the party's internal disputes and documents the activities of a number of its leading officials. Correspondence files of Alice Paul and Anita Pollitzer are of particular note, the former highlighting the middle years of Paul's long tenure as leader of the National Woman's Party, while the latter document the party secretary's lobbying campaign on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment. The National Woman's Party efforts in support of women's rights emphasized strict legal equality and opposed special protective legislation. This position brought it into conflict with other women's groups as well as labor and church organizations. These themes are documented in the subject file, which also contains records relating to several of the party's conferences and conventions.