The Public Relations department photographs series was mostly compiled from companies who were members of the organization. The series has been divided into six subseries: Steel making and processes; Air and water pollution; Historical photographs; People, places and publicity; Color file; and the T.F. Healy collection of old illustrations.

The Steel making and processes subseries images cover the entire scope of the contemporary steel industry from basic raw materials through the multiple aspects of steelmaking. This includes crucible steel making and the four modern ways of making steel (the bessemer, open-hearth, electric furnaces and, lastly, the basic oxygen furnace process); the pouring of ingots; hot mechanical forming (blooming mills for rolled steel products); continuous strip mill for rolling sheets; bar mills for pipe and tubing. Also included are views of annealing furnaces, cluster mills, charcoal furnaces, control pulpits, cooling beds, foundries, ingots and molds, pickling, rail mills, research labs, rod mills, sheet mills, steam hammers, steel workers, strip mills, vacuum degassing, wire mills.

In addition to images documenting the technical aspects of steel production, there are photographs showing steel in use. These include a variety of industrial and consumer (bicycles, furniture, and appliances) applications, and even artwork. Some of these photographs depict the use of steel in other industries such as automobile manufacturing, construction and architecture (including buildings, bridges and subways), oil drilling, and shipbuilding.

The Air and water pollution subseries consists of images related to the steel industry and environmental issues. These include air and water pollution abatement, solid waste, and recycling.

The Historical photographs subseries is made up of images showing different aspects of the iron and steel industry in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These images include furnaces, mills, coke ovens, transporters, steel works, and warehouses. There are also some photographs of steel workers and men related to the steel industry, including Sir Bessemer and Andrew Carnegie.

The People, places and publicity subseries includes illustrations from the publication Steel a Picture Story, flowcharts the steel making process, a presentation on iron and steel, ephemera, images of steel workers, firefighters and steelmaking. There is one photograph of John P. Roche, the President of the AISI with Walt Disney. There are also photos of people involved in war board committees and conferences. There are also a few engravings, postcards, and advertisements for various steel works.

The Color file subseries contains images of furnaces, ingots, steel, mills, steel workers, and facilities. These materials are grouped together by the unifying factor of being color photographs.

The T.F. Healy collection of old illustrations subseries contains original clippings in regards to ordnance manufacture (from the Illustrated London News, 1851) and a Republic Iron and Steel Co. advertisement (Harper's Weekly, 1912). Also included with the Healy material are reproductions of 35 Harper's Weekly Civil War newspapers (May 4, 1861 to January 4, 1862) which were produced as centennial souvenirs of the Civil War in 1961. Subjects found in this grouping include: Askam Ironworks, Bowesfield Iron, Landore Siemens Steel Co. and Rodman guns among many others. Thomas F. Healy agency of New York, was a pictorial research service. It is possible that in the early 1960s, the AISI hired the agency to clip and gather steel-related illustrations from ninteenth and some twentieth century British and American journals.