The Paul Swenson papers consist of materials Swenson produced or collected during his career as a writer and are divided into three sections: professional, personal, and correspondence.

Professional papers contain examples of Swenson’s work from his time at the Deseret News, as well as his fiction and non-fiction writings, which include poetry, songs, short stories, and a novel. Personal papers consist of materials related to Swenson’s early life and family. The photographs in this section are largely unidentified, but some appear to be from Swenson’s wedding and his office at the Deseret News. The correspondence is both professional and personal, two categories that are often blurred in Swenson’s letters. Due to the very personal nature of this material, the curator has chosen to seal the correspondence for a period of 25 years (until 2038).

Some folders were too large to fit in letter-size boxes and were placed in legal-size boxes labeled “Oversize.” An empty placeholder folder marks the logical location of these items in boxes 1-5 and refers researchers to the oversize legal boxes.