The series is arranged in eight subseries: Classical Rhetorical Theory; Aristotle's Rhetorical Theory; Medieval and Renaissance Rhetorical Theory; Francis Bacon's Rhetorical Theory; 17th, 18th, 19th Century Rhetorical Theory; 19th, 20th Century Rhetorical Theory; Rhetorical Concepts; Related Concepts and Processes. Within subseries, folders are arranged alphabetically by name of individual or topic.

Series 1, History of Rhetorical Theory, consists of subject files which reflect the scholarly foundation of Wallace's approach to speech and communication, as well as his painstaking research and his abiding interest in Francis Bacon.

The kinds of materials included are study and research notes; drafts of papers and articles by Wallace, his students, and colleagues; charts; correspondence; notes for speeches and lectures given by Wallace; mimeographed classroom materials; reprints, clippings, and photocopied articles; bibliographies; thesis abstracts; publisher's forms; printer's proofs, newsletters; and proceedings.

The notes for a new annotated edition of Aristotle's Rhetoric, which Wallace was making at the time of his death, can be found in folders 11 and 12. Only Book II and Book III were in the materials received by the Archives.

The materials on Francis Bacon (folders 60-81) reflect some of Wallace's most significant work. Included are research notes; papers by Wallace and his students; notes for talks and lectures on Bacon given by Wallace; drafts and reprints of Wallace articles; extracts of Bacon's speeches, often annotated by Wallace; photocopies of letters and documentary information regarding the Bacon Travelling Library; correspondence and publisher's forms regarding Francis Bacon on the Nature of Man; a compilation of materials (folder 79) which went into the making of the monograph Francis Bacon and Method: Theory and Practice (see also folders 63-66).

Folder 128 includes a letter to Wallace from Chaim Perelman, July 6, 1973.

Series 2, Notes on British and American Oratory, comprises for the most part folders on individual speakers arranged alphabetically within the subseries: British Oratory; American Oratory; Booker T. Washington's Oratory; and Contemporary Speakers.

The kinds of materials in these folders include typed and handwritten research notes, copies of speeches, drafts of papers by Wallace and others, correspondence, clippings, reprints, mimeographed and photocopied material, pamphlets, and newsletters.

There is, in addition, some background material on English history and on British and American oratory and public address. This includes notes made by Wallace as both student and scholar, drafts of papers and articles, lecture notes, mimeo-graphed and printed materials. The correspondence leading to the publication of An Historical Anthology of Select British Speeches, edited by Arnold, Bryant, Haberman, Murphy, and Wallace (New York, Ronald Press, 1967) is also included. These materials are filed in folders 1-9 (British) and 35-38 (American).

The unique material on Booker T. Washington in folders 69-83 was gathered and prepared by Wallace for a chapter in History and Criticism of American Public Address, edited by W. N. Brigance (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1943) 1:407-433. Included are notes on interviews with people who had seen and heard Washington speak, among whom was George Washington Carver; letters in response to questionnaires from people who had attended Washington's speeches (one is from W.E.B. Du Bois, January 21, 1938; other correspondents include James Weldon Johnson, Robert Russa Moton, and Monroe N. Work); typed and handwritten research notes, many of which are copied from articles in contemporary newspapers regarding Washington's speeches; Wallace's analyses of Washington's speeches, audiences, topics, and methods; many extracts of the speeches; papers by Wallace on Washington; and a carbon copy of the chapter for the Brigance volume. A list of the correspondents and the people interviewed is filed in folder 69. In the subseries American Oratory, folder 65 contains another draft of the Brigance chapter and a typed copy of a speech by Washington as reported in the Philadelphia Record, May 4, 1901. In Series 3, folder 1, there is a speech by Wallace about his study of Washington.

The folder for Dwight D. Eisenhower includes, in addition to copies of some speeches, six photographs of Eisenhower.

The speeches are arranged alphabetically by title, or by topic if no title had been assigned when the papers were received. The manuscripts and typescripts of papers by Wallace are also arranged alphabetically by title; however, the reprints of his articles are arranged chronologically. The materials by others are arranged alphabetically by author.

Series 3, Speeches and Writings, comprises the subseries: Speeches; Published and Unpublished Writings; and Printed Materials. The types of materials included are typed and handwritten drafts of speeches, articles, papers, and book reviews by Wallace; transcripts of taped lectures by Wallace; manuscripts of published and proposed books by Wallace, with accompanying correspondence, research notes, and/or contracts; correspondence about and reviews of Wallace books; reprints of Wallace articles; reprints, clippings, and photocopies of articles by others; and papers by colleagues and students.

Among the topics of the speeches are Francis Bacon; Booker T. Washington; education and speech; debate; Elizabethan rhetoric; the Speech Association of America; commencement addresses; and Wallace's retirement from the University of Illinois in 1968.

Drafts of articles, papers, and speeches by Wallace can be found in other series as well.

The development of the Louisiana State University Lectures of 1967 into the published volume Understanding Discourse, LSU Press, 1970, can be traced in folders 22-24.

Three tapes of lectures given by Wallace on the History of Speech Education are included. Another tape includes that portion of the program called "The Theory of Speech Acts and Rhetorical Action" sponsored by the Rhetorical Society in which Wallace's Understanding Discourse is mentioned. Also, another tape of Wallace's speeches: Side 1, "A Modern View of Delivery" presented at Rhode Island College, and Side 2, "The Act of Speech" is filed here.

Series 4, General Education and the Relation of Rhetoric to Other Studies, contains material indicative of Wallace's great interest in teaching itself and in the teaching of rhetoric as part of the Western humanist tradition.

The subseries General Education reflects his participation on the General Education Committee and its Subcommittee in the Humanities at the University of Illinois between 1955 and 1958 when the committee's thrust was to address teacher training. The kinds of materials included are reports, memoranda and correspondence, resolutions, agenda, typed and handwritten notes on both research and meetings, drafts of papers, photocopied and mimeographed material.

The subseries The Relation of Rhetoric to Other Studies is arranged alphabetically by academic subject. The folders contain research notes, memoranda and letters, reprints, clippings, mimeographed and photocopied articles, and a printer's proof (not Wallace's).

The material is in folders arranged alphabetically by subjects, which were designated, for the most part, by Wallace.

Series, 5, Communication Pedagogy, contains material acquired by Wallace during his student and teaching years pertaining to or for use in the teaching of speech.

The types of materials included are: correspondence; typed and handwritten research notes made by Wallace as both student and scholar; drafts of papers and speeches by Wallace; papers by colleagues and students; classroom materials; committee reports and minutes; reprints and pamphlets; clippings; photocopied materials; an itinerary, a membership list, a photograph, a newsletter, and programs.

Of particular note in this series are the correspondence and clippings generated by the controversy over the decision by the Committee on Intercollegiate Debate and Discussion of the Speech Association of America, while Wallace was its President, to have as the national Debate Proposition for 1954-1955: "Resolved: that the United States should extend diplomatic recognition to the Communist government of China." Some universities chose not to participate, and the United States service academies at West Point and Annapolis were forbidden to participate by Pentagon officials. Public debate followed in editorials, on the floor of Congress, on Edward R. Murrow's See it Now television program, and in statements to the press on the questions of free speech, the nature of a democracy, McCarthyism, and the nature of the university. See folders 49-52.

The folders are arranged alphabetically by name of organization, while the materials within the folders are arranged chronologically.

Series 6, Professional Organizations, includes material received or generated during Wallace's membership in the Massachusetts Speech Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, the Speech Association of America (Speech Communication Association as of July 1, 1970), and the New England Speech Association. He held offices or committee memberships in several of these organizations, including the presidency of the Speech Association of America in 1954.

The materials consist of correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, committee recommendations, papers, handwritten notes on meetings, expense reports, clippings, reprints, drafts of a position paper, newsletters, miscellaneous mimeographed and photocopied materials, lecture notes, audit reports, and budget recommendations.

The bulk of the material in this series consists of the correspondence, meeting records, and drafts of a position paper produced by the NCTE-SAA Committee on Rhetoric and the Teaching Thereof from March 23, 1965 to January 15, 1968.

Another brief set of correspondence (folder 12) concerns the debate within the Speech Communication Association about whether to change the name of The Quarterly Journal of Speech to Communication Quarterly.

See also Series 5, folders 49-52, for material on the Committee on Intercollegiate Debate and Discussion of the Speech Association of America.

A tape of Wallace's participation on an Eastern Communication Association panel entitled "Young Turks Revisited" is included here.

Series 7, Miscellaneous Materials, includes correspondence generated while Wallace acted as an advisory editor in speech for Dodd, Mead and Company, publishers, 1969-1972; letters received by Wallace upon his retirement from the University of Illinois in 1968; photocopied material and miscellaneous research notes including one box of note cards which constitutes an evolving dictionary of rhetoric; and four miscellaneous items.