The collection contains personal research notes, subject files, and writings; materials relating to the Virginia Tech University Libraries; course notes; dissertation research; work on textiles and arts & crafts history; genealogy notes; brochures on historic sites around Virginia; and maps collected by Dorothy McCombs. Materials date from about 1970-1989.

Although materials cover a wide range of topics and regions, particular emphases include research notes on Appalachian textile production, information on historic Blacksburg and Montgomery County, notes on the Preston family and the Smithfield Plantation, and local/regional genealogy. There are also papers relating to McCombs tenure as a reference librarian at Virginia Tech.

McCombs extensively researched textiles, of which she published “National Context and the Local Experience of Domestic Textile Manufacture in Montgomery County, VA 1776-1830.” Several other publications found in this collection include “Local History and Genealogical Research in University Libraries,” and her thesis, “Virginia Cloth, Early Textiles in Virginia: Particularly in the Backcountry between the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains until 1830”. There is also a copy of her unpublished manuscript, "Virginia Cloth: Early Textiles in Montgomery County, 1776-1830” in the collection as well.