This series is arranged alphabetically by county. Each county is further subdivided into some or all of the following categories: buildings, church records, city records, county office records, general information, laws, lists, manuscripts, newspapers, paintings and statuary, maps and photographs, floor plans, publications, township records, and transcription of county court records.

In the buildings category there are forms on the buildings and offices wherein the records of the county are contained. There may also be information on the housing and care of the records.

The church records category contains the church records form, the deed record form, building forms for individual churches, historical sketches of individual churches, lists of churches and cemeteries, correction sheets, lists of pastors, lists of the dates of organization of early churches, lists of deed records, notebooks, essays on church schools, and lists of churches, active or defunct.

The city records category consists of volumes and unbound records forms and buildings forms. In those counties which have a city records division, the forms are for the most part of the records of city clerk, city assessor, city collector, and city police judge. This is not true of St. Louis County, which has a large number of city offices and forms for the records thereof.

County office records are arranged by office. These records use either volume forms or the unbound records forms or both. There may be essays describing the individual offices.

The general information category contains general descriptions of the county, bibliographies, lists of county newspapers, answers to county history questions, essays on topography, climate, geography, county government and offices, paleontology, geology, archaeology, early settlement, population, growth, development, ethnology, particular things in the counties such as parks and statues, relation of the county to national and state political systems; county government, folklore, clubs, highways, cities, points of interest, manufactures, public utilities, union labor and labor conditions, history of the courthouse, county history, railroads, banks, county organization, schools, county participation in the Civil War, and lists of early county officials.

The laws category contains lists of Missouri laws affecting each office of county government. The date the law was approved and the date from which it became effective are given, as well as page and section numbers. The laws refer to towns and cities, boundaries, territory attached, congressional apportionment, roads and bridges, academies, schools, agriculture, trespass, internal improvement fund, and the seat of justice.

The lists consists of lists of records, each entry giving type, name, date of record, and whether the record is in file boxes or in volumes. Ordinarily there is a list of the records for each of the county offices. At the beginning of the list the location of the records is given.

The manuscripts, newspapers, and painting and statuary categories consist of manuscript collection forms, individual manuscript forms, newspaper forms, paintings and statuary forms, volume forms, printed records forms, and newspapers and newspaper clippings.

The maps, photographs, and floor plans consists of map and photograph forms, floor plan drawings, maps, photographs and measurements of the offices. There is frequently material on housing and care of records.

The publications subcategory usually consists of one volume, Inventory of the County Archives, ---- County, Missouri. Occasionally such publications as city directories are included.

The township records category is found in very few counties. When it is found, it consists of volume forms and unbound record forms covering the records of clerk and ex-officio assessor.

The transcription of county court records consists of a verbatim copy of the county court record from the first volume down through 1878. Many county transcriptions stopped before 1879 because WPA funding had ended. There are some gaps in the records either because the original was destroyed or the transcription is missing. These gaps are noted in the folder lists.