The Joseph Bancroft & Sons Company records trace the firm's history from 1831 through 1961. However, the pre-1865 records are quite fragmentary, consisting largely of real estate records and day books. Later records are found in Joseph Bancroft & Sons Co. licensing records (Accession 1359).

Board of Directors and Executive Committee minute books and reports date from 1889, while records of the Operating, Advisory, and Real Estate Committees date from 1910. The Managing Director's letter books are virtually complete from 1862 to 1917 and give a detailed picture of the company's operations. The collection also includes sales, purchasing, and receiving records. Production records include expense analyses, cost books for labor and supplies, time books, wage records, and payroll sheets. There is considerable documentation on the company's paternalistic approach to labor relations, the operation of its company housing and store programs, as well as efforts by the Textile Workers Union of America to organize the mills in the 1930s and 1940s.

The record group is split into the following seven series: I. Administrative records; II. General accounts; III. Purchase and receiving records; IV. Production records; V. Sales and shipping records; VI. Letters; VII. Memo books, maps and blueprints, clippings, and samples.

The Administrative records include incorporation papers, Board of Directors and committee minutes and reports, stockholders and stock papers, agreements, and various reports. The General accounts records are comprehensive and are divided into day books and journals, ledgers, cash books, statement books, trial balances, a Wilmington Trust Co. check stub book, appraisals, and other various account records. The Purchase and receiving records include two volumes of freight records, multiple volumes of inventories, and a purchase register. Production records include expense analyses, cost books for labor and supplies, time books, wage records, payroll sheets, finishing records, and materials relating to the Textile Workers Union of America's attempts to organize the mills in the 1930s and 1940s. The Sales and shipping records series includes one volume of sales accounts, customer price lists, and several volumes of shipping reports.

The correspondence series includes both letterbooks and loose correspondence. The Managing Director's letter books are virtually complete from 1862 to 1917 and give a detailed picture of the company's operations. There is also a letterbook of correspondence between the company and H.B. Wiggins Sons, New York, and a letterbook of correspondence with sales agents. The loose correspondence includes material relating to patents; letters and papers of Victor Bloede (who codeveloped "Sun Fast" Hollands with the company; Thistle Mills claim against Joseph Bancroft & Sons Co.; mercerization; manufacture of window shades; securities and assessments; Metcalf & Eddy; Color Processes, Inc. versus Pusey & Jones Co. et al.; A.D. Smith & Co.; Phillips Jones Corp.; Chase National Bank of New York; H.M. Preston Co.; capital reorganization; Eddystone Manufacturing Co.; government contract negotiations; William Simpson Sons & Co., Inc.; and the Rockford Library.

The final series of miscellany includes memo books concerning notes and calculations on cotton machinery, factory equipment prices, general business matters, and wages. Also included are maps and blueprints, an article entitled "Joseph Bancroft on Top Again," and two sample books.