Records from the AI&SI library are arranged in two subseries: A. Vertical File and B. Historical Collections.

The 156-linear foot vertical file (1936-1974) is the largest single series in the archive. It contains publications of the Institute and its member firms, press releases, and speeches by Institute and industry executives. There are approximately 7,700 pamphlets and company reports, 69,000 mounted clippings, 22,000 press release, and 11,000 items of miscellaneous printed matter and ephemera. The vertical file was apparently begun ca. 1936, but it contains tear sheets, pamphlets, publications and photocopies of originals dating back to the 1870s; statistics dating back to the early 1800s, and some illustrations of iron making techniques dating back to the 1600s. Coverage is most extensive for the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. The material covers company histories, descriptions of products and processes, and general topics of interest to the steel industry, such as automation, industrial and labor relations, standardization, and atomic energy. The files describe the entire scope of the industry from basic raw materials and other metals used in combination or alloys with steel, through the various types of steelmaking apparatus and processes, to finished goods. The files also commemorate the use of steel products in trade fairs and exhibitions such as the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair.

Among items of note are files relating to public relations efforts by both labor and management regarding the issue of wages. Several pamphlets, press releases, advertisements, etc. relate to the increasing pressure for wage increases following World War II, and a second group relate to the confrontation between the steel companies and President Kennedy in 1962-1963. Journal articles and presentations by steel executives illustrate the dilemma over modernizing aging steel plants in graphic detail. Pamphlets, editorials and speeches present the industry's reaction to foreign competition and increasing imports of European and Japanese steel. Other posters and pamphlets depict labor's campaign to stem job losses.

The files also contain a wide array of materials aimed at influencing public opinion about the American economic system in general, including open letters, editorials, advertisements, petitions and educational materials furnished to schools and community groups by business corporations, labor unions, trade associations like the National Association of Manufacturers, and a variety of think-tanks and public policy organizations. Copies of government documents and reports of congressional and executive agency hearings depict important disputes over the tariff, antitrust, labor relations, safety and the environment.

Other files document the steel industry during World War II and the Cold War. Efforts to boost war production and worker morale and to encourage conservation on the home front may be traced through both company and government materials aimed at both workers and consumers. Other materials discuss post-war strategies for reconversion, potential recession, and the problems of returning workers, and there is some material dealing with the formation and workings of the United Nations. The Cold War materials deal with anticommunism, civil defense, the defense industries, stockpiling essential industrial commodities, and atomic energy.

A large proportion of the files are concerned with technical matters, covering the entire range of iron and steel making techniques from the mining of raw materials through the creation and marketing of finished products. The latter run the gamut from producer goods like pipe and wire, through bridges, machinery and ordnance to consumer goods like automobiles and appliances, indeed anything that could be made from ferrous metals. The files also include extensive information on non-ferrous metals and any material that could be seen as an actual or potential competitor to ferrous metals. There is likewise extensive coverage of transportation infrastructure (railroads, roads, canals) which serve the steel industry as both transporters and consumers of steel products and of the heavy machinery (e.g., ore docks) needed to move the industry's raw materials.

Other technical subjects include geological exploration, library science as it related to assembling and operating the Institute Library, and business machines and automation. One can trace the evolution of office equipment, warehousing methods, and inventory control. There is a small amount of information of developments of the late 1950s and 1960s, such as transistors and lasers.

Other files relate to the steel company's efforts to attract homemakers purchasing kitchen appliances and home furnishings, and to issues of women's participation in the labor force. Employee bulletins, magazines and newsletters (1940-1965) offer insights into the factory and home life of workers.

The historical files have several components. Perhaps the most important is a group of 105 letters to James M. Swank, most of which constitute responses to the first edition of his History of Iron in All Ages. The bulk are either from surviving iron industry pioneers or their children and grandchildren and were part of Swank's effort to develop an accurate chronology and assign credit for particular innovations, particularly hot-blast smelting with anthracite and coke. The letters exist both in the original and in a notebook of typed transcriptions.

Historical miscellany includes scattered notes, draft articles, bulletins, clippings, etc., on Institute history. There are lists of presidents, honorary vice presidents, original membership lists, lists of medals and awards, and menus from early Institute banquets. A file on Activities of the Washington Office (1916-1921) consists of typed transcripts of letters from government officials regarding fixing production and pricing for the World War I effort and a 1921 speech of General Pershing congratulating steel executives for their contributions.

Other historical items include copies of court documents from the patent infringement suit of William Kelly vs. Henry Bessemer concerning priority on the Bessemer process (1857), an 1889 patent to William R. Thomas of Catasauqua, Pennsylvania, for a magnetic ore separator, and a glossary of terms commonly used in the steel industry.

The Library also contained a collection of four volumes from early American iron producers: account books of the Mount Hope (New Jersey) Furnace and of Noble & Townsend, iron manufacturers in colonial New York; a daily log and time book from the Birdsboro (Pennsylvania) Furnace; and an 1837 personal notebook from George Nock of the Ramapo (New York) Iron Works containing notes on production and techniques.