The records consist of research data covering a variety of conservation and environment-related subjects, information concerning various Michigan conservation/environmentalist groups, and the administrative records of the MPC itself. Some articles found in the collection date as far back as 1948, but the bulk of material is dated between 1960 and 1975.

All files are organized according to subject matter. MPC administrative records include the original organizational materials, minutes and agendas from trustees meetings, records of officers, trustees, and advisors of the MPC, and financial records. The records also contain copies of nearly all the MPC newsletters, from 1968 to 1977. Contents of files concerning other Michigan environmentalist organizations vary from incomplete to fairly extensive depending on how closely the particular organization worked with MPC on environmental concerns.

Other subject files also vary on the amount of information contained within. The most extensive of these series is the Pesticides files, which comprise a full 21 folders of the 153-folder collection. Contained in these files is correspondence concerning legislation, copies of legislation and statements made at hearings, pamphlets and usage manuals of pesticides, and 16 folders of information, containing newspaper and magazine articles and reports collected between 1963 and 1979.