The materials include published legislative calendars, legislative profiles, sponsored legislation and completed legislation, miscellaneous legislative histories, clippings from The Congressional Record, Edwards personal voting records, the voting records of the Democratic Study Group, and House Committee Files. The material in this series constitutes the bulk of the collection.

The legislative calendars provide a summary of the activities of Congress, including the bills in conference, the House and Senate calendars, bills, and resolutions. The Legislative Profiles, likewise provide a similar summary of the specific legislation authored and co-authored by Edwards. The calendars document the 93rd through 103rd Congresses, and the legislative profiles document the 96th through 103rd Congresses.

The bulk of this series document the legislative process, and includes legislation sponsored by Edwards between the 88th to the 103rd Congresses. These files include the bill file and the various iterations, as well as data, reports, newsclippings, correspondence supporting and opposing the specific piece of legislation. Edwards sponsored a variety of bills from transportation, urban development, commerce public health, civil rights, veteran rights, immigration, women's rights to the environment. Edwards is best known as a civil rights advocate, but he also understood the business interests of the state, and worked hard to protect the interests of high tech firms and their intellectual property in the Bay Area. The completed legislative files are arranged according to the bill number, bill title and date. This segment covers research and development, monopolies and commercial law, semiconductor chip protection, intellectual property, and bankruptcy.

The Miscellaneous Legislative Histories document abortion and civil rights legislation, which provide a snapshot of the diverse social issues that Edwards championed during his long career. In 1989 he sponsored the Freedom of Choice Act, to bar states from enforcing restrictions on abortion. He also worked early on to promote the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and was active in promoting the Voting Rights Act of 1992, despite option from President Regan.

The Congressional Record Clippings document Edwards' congressional activities, from the 89th to the 103rd Congresses, covering all of the issues that he supported, and include floor statement excerpts as reported in the official record, as well as other newspaper coverage of significant social policy issues, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

The remainder of the series includes Edwards Personal Voting Records, the Voting Records of the Democratic Study Group, and House Committee Files, which include the Judiciary Committee Legislative Calendars (1975-1994) and Committee Files, Post Office & Civil Service Committee, and the Veterans Affairs Committee. The Committee Files primarily consist of correspondence from constituents, official reports related to specific legislation, bills, drafts of bills, newsclippings, memos, press releases, floor statements, and testimonials.