The collection is divided into nine series: Poetry, Prose, Colloquies, Peoria-Miami Tales and Freeform Poems, Press and Reviews, Work Files, Correspondence, Personal Files, and Media. Materials relate primarily to Knoepfle’s literary career, with a portion focusing on his military career, family, and activism. Largely documents, the collection also includes a small amount of photographs relating to Knoepfle’s family and media, including open reel audio tapes, floppy disks, cassettes, DVCAMs, VHS, CDs, and DVDs.

Series I: Poetry, 1947-2019 consists of drafts, published collections, and individual poems. Arranged chronologically.

Series II: Prose, 1960-2012 contains notes, drafts, manuscripts, and published pieces of Knoepfle’s prose work, including folk tales, scholarly articles, his autobiography, and other personal recollections. Arranged chronologically.

Series III: Colloquies, 1990-1995 contains drafts, manuscripts, and published versions of a series of self-interviews.

Series IV: Peoria and Miami Research, 1811-1994 contains material relating to Peoria and Miami languages. Knoepfle conducted extensive research during the 1980s, collecting reproductions of manuscript material from archival institutions and using this research as the basis for a collection of poems and other works. Reproductions of material housed at other institutions were removed from this collection; original materials and reproductions whose origin could not be determined were retained. Arranged chronologically.

Series V: Press and Reviews, 1957-2019 contains newspaper articles and reviews of Knoepfle’s work. Arranged chronologically.

Series VI: Work Files, 1951-2018 contains additional materials relating to Knoepfle’s literary and professional work, including works published by contemporaries and sent or dedicated to Knoepfle, materials from professional organizations, conference and event materials, contracts, and files from Knoepfle’s time as a consultant for Upward Bound. Additionally, Knoepfle tended to assemble binders of files for specific years; these binders contained a mix of correspondence, poetry and prose works, work and personal event ephemera, photographs, news articles, and other materials. These items were removed from the binders but retained together in folders labeled ‘[Year] Files’. Arranged chronologically.

Series VII: Correspondence, 1956-2017 contains correspondence with friends, publishers, and contemporaries. Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent.

Series VIII: Personal Files, 1867-2016 contains material relating to Knoepfe’s life outside of his literary career; primarily his military service, family history, and activism. Includes some material relating specifically to Peggy Knoepfle’s work. Materials include documents, newspaper clippings, family photographs, and t-shirts from various protests and organizations. Arranged chronologically.

Series IX: Media, 1956-2008 contains media formats, including open reel audio tapes, floppy disks, cassettes, DVCAMs, VHS, CDs, and DVDs. The series is divided into four sub-series: Literary Work, Personal Life, Oral Histories, and Digital Files. See each item’s Scope and Content note for format and additional content information. Some items were assigned Item Numbers prior to processing; when present these numbers were recorded in the item’s Scope and Content note, but the numbering system was not extended to all items in the collection. Access to items in this series is restricted subject to approval due to format.

Series IX, Sub-series A: Literary Work, 1955-2008 contains material relating to Knoepfle’s literary career, including audio and video recordings of conferences, poetry and prose readings, interviews, appearances on local show Works in Progress, World in Progress, and related events.

Series IX, Sub-series B: Personal Life, 1986-2008 contains video and audio recordings relating to Knoepfle’s personal life, including reminiscences of his youth, service during World War II, and his retirement.

Series IX, Sub-series C: Oral Histories, 1955-1958, undated. Primarily oral histories of rivermen on the Ohio River conducted between 1955 and 1958. The Ohio River Oral Histories are also in the Oral History Collection and are digitized; recordings and transcripts are available online through Illinois Digital Archives. River Tape #8, an interview with J. Harvey Coomer conducted on 1958 September 17, is missing from this set of recordings but present in the Oral History Collection set.

Series IX, Sub-series D: Digital Files, 1999-2012 contains digital media on which Knoepfle primarily stored drafts and manuscripts of his poetry and prose works.