Much of Carl Oglesby's life has been spent considering and commenting on the political climate. From his 1962 play The Peacemaker to his extensive research on the Gehlen Organization, Oglesby has never been shy voicing his opinion about our government and the people who work in it. His papers chronicle the various issues and topics in which he has taken an interest over the past forty years, including the Gehlen Organization, the Vietnam War, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and America's post-World War II struggle for political power between the established elites of the North and the emerging ruling class of the South and West, which he defined as the "Yankee and Cowboy War."

The collection contains Oglesby's drafts, notes, outlines, correspondence, writing fragments, manuscripts, and research materials like articles, book excerpts, newspaper clippings, and interviews. F.B.I. and C.I.A. documents pertaining to the Gehlen Organization and Oglesby's work with SDS are included as are the legal papers that document the lawsuit he filed to obtain these classified materials. Also present are notes, research materials and drafts relating to his memoir, referred to early on as "Ravens on the Wing," but published as Ravens in the Storm in 2008. Finally, correspondence, family histories, and photographs provide some insight into Oglesby's personal life.