The collection includes Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI) publications, school papers (including notes and notebooks), ephemera, painting, and photographs of William F. Drumeller, Jr., a civil engineering student and cadet at VPI from 1942-1943 and 1946-1949. The majority of the collection consists of student notebooks and paper relating to math and engineering courses. Publications and ephemera were collected by him during his tenure as a student and, presumably, as an alumni.

The collection also consists of materials from his time as an engineer in West Virginia. The reports, studies, correspondences, and notes provide insight into the railway and coal industries in southern West Virginia. One report describes surface coal mining, also known as mountaintop removal.