Series A. Biographical Information, Diaries, Memorabilia. Information by and about Devere Allen, Marie Hollister Allen, and their families. Includes Christmas cards and other personal information and memorabilia.

Series B-1. Writings of Devere Allen. Includes composition books, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, typescripts, some background and research material, and correspondence related to his writings.

Series B-2. Speeches, Talks and Radio Addresses. Includes manuscripts of talks, background material, correspondence, publicity, and lists of speaking engagements.

Series C-1. The Rational Patriot (periodical edited by Devere Allen). Includes correspondence, manuscripts, and subscription lists.

Series C-2. Young Democracy (a youth organization and its periodical of the same name which Devere Allen helped to found). Includes correspondence, printed material, and information about members.

Series C-3. Family and Personal Correspondence and Related Printed Information. Primarily letters between Devere and Marie before their marriage, 1910-1917. Also includes some correspondence between Marie Allen and Charles Chatfield, 1960-1974. All letters of a personal nature had been placed in this series at Marie Allen's request. It was restricted until her death in 1979. Also included is a box of information about Devere Allen's ancestor, Horatio Allen (1802-1889), who was the inventor of the first steam locomotive in the United States.

Series C-4. Correspondence and Related Printed Information, General.

This series represents Allen's working files. He had arranged it chronologically by year, then alphabetically within each year. It includes correspondence and printed secondary information about individuals and organizations, and it documents the day-to-day working of The World Tomorrow, and the No-Frontier News Service/Worldover Press. It also includes a miscellany of personal topics, news service business, genealogy, and Allen's other interests (especially his work for the Socialist Party), because his correspondence reflects the fact that the many facets of his personal and professional life were inseparable.

In addition to the chronological files in Series C-4, Allen chose to arrange some correspondence by organization, country, or subject. In the later processing, files for these three topics were removed from C-4 and created as series C-5, C-6, and C-7, respectively. Consistent filing practices had not always been followed in Allen's office, so that related correspondence was not necessarily together. Correspondence and related files were transferred from the general series ( C-4) to the specific (C-5, C-6, C-7) if Allen had already created a file for the name, organization, or topic. If Allen had not created a separate file, the correspondence and related information was left in Series C-4.

Series C-5. Correspondence and Related Printed Information, Arranged by Organization.

Series C-6. Correspondence and Related Printed Information, Arranged by Country.

Series C-7. Correspondence and Related Printed Information, Arranged by Subject .

Series D-1. No-Frontier News Service (1933-1941) and Series D-2. Worldover Press (1942-1955). These are the business and operational files of Allen's news service, which changed its name in January, 1942. Most correspondence relating to it is filed in series C-4. Periodicals associated with these series were left in place. Extensive clipping files of NNS and Worldover Press materials are included.

Series E. Books, Pamphlets, Periodicals, and other Printed Materials Collected By Devere Allen. Approximately 250 of the 300 books received in the 1961 accession were incorporated into the Swarthmore College Peace Collection's holdings at that time. Most are about peace, war, pacifism, and the Society of Friends. In 1997 some duplicates were sold to Booksource (Swarthmore, Pa.) and others given away. The books that remain in this series were retained because they were inscribed by the author or have some significance to the papers. About 300 pamphlets are included in this series, including 18th and 19th century works. There are also 15 plays and 40 poems about peace and war.Periodicals received by Devere Allen were found scattered throughout the papers, especially in series C-4. These were brought together in series E. However, since series had been established for the No-Frontier News Service (D-1) and the Worldover Press (D-2), periodicals associated with them were left in their respective series.