This collection includes five series of kitchen equipment, Housewares, Kitchen Appliances, Kitchen Accessories and Designs, Ranges, Stoves, and Ovens, and Other items. Items range from the Antebellum era to the early 2000s. The majority of items are from the United States, with some pieces from Canada, England, France, Germany, and Spain. Items include sales and promotional materials such as catalogs, product cookbooks, brochures, trade cards, coupons, handbills, broadsides, and billheads. The collection also has a safety grater with its original packaging and a pie rimmer, crimper, and pastry cutter with an illustrated broadside. Many cookbooks were written for specific appliance products that include details on the appliance. Appliance directions and maintenance manuals are within the collection. Materials provide insight into consumer culture, technology, and history of gender, race, class, sanitation, marketing, and graphic design.

Some materials include racialized depictions of African Americans and Asians, and a statement of such is marked next to each material.