The Broadfoot collection is organized primarily according to his nine published histories: Ten Lost Years (1973); Six War Years (1974); The Pioneer Years (1976); Years of Sorrow, Years of Shame (1977); My Own Years (1983); The Veterans' Years (1985); The Immigrant Years (1986); Next-Year Country (1988) and Ordinary Russians (1989). Contained within these collections are contracts, manuscripts (edited and unedited), rejected stories and photographs relating to the books that were finally produced. Signed copies of the books are provided for all but Six War Years. Newspaper and magazine reviews have been included for most of the books. There are also two unpublished manuscripts and a number of essays on such topics as the writing of oral history and the publishing industry in Canada. Broadfoot carefully organized his papers and included descriptions and explanations of most of his papers.

An important aspect of the collection is the correspondence that Broadfoot received when he solicited the assistance of Canadians in the writing of two of his books: The Veterans' Years (1985) and The Immigrant Years (1986). The files of correspondence (seven for The Veterans' Years and three for The Immigrant Years) include, respectively, stories from men and women detailing their personal experiences in the Second World War and their return to Canada; and stories of families and individuals who immigrated to Canada in the post-war era and their adjustment to Canadian life.

A conspicuous absence in Broadfoot's collection is his taped interviews. Broadfoot did not save his tapes and, thus, the actual reminiscences are not available to the researcher. As well, Broadfoot corresponded for twelve years with Canadian author, Margaret Laurence. According to Broadfoot, Laurence kept all of his letters. However, Broadfoot destroyed all of Laurence's letters to him.