The Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club (RATC) Records document the management of the club from its founding in 1932. The collection includes the club newsletters, board minutes, former officers' and members' records, National Park Service and RATC acquisition information, conservation issues, management plans, histories of the club, scrapbooks, and photographs.

The collection is divided into two series, I: RATC Management and II: RATC Officers and Members. The first series contains materials created, collected, and maintained by the RATC for its operations. It contains the meeting minutes, primarily about the activities of the Executive Board from 1940 to 1959 and 1968 to 2004. Some of the meeting minutes also record the activities of committees, affiliate organizations, and the annual all-member banquet during those years. There are also by-laws from the 1980s and 1990s and rosters from the 1950s to 1980s. The club newsletters start with the RATC Bulletin from 1939 to 1942 and continue with the Trail Blazer from 1954 to 2010. These document the club's recent activities, including work with the Appalachian Trail Conference (later Appalachian Trail Conservancy), local non-profits, and government entitities, hike schedules and detailed accounts of club hikes on the Appalachian Trail (AT), and reminiscences of and memorials to past and current members.

The Land Tract Files contain legal records of lands acquired by NPS after 1978 Congressional funding. Most of these materials are photocopies of legal records documenting land acquisitions, including legal judgments, land ownership histories, foreclosure documents, leases and contracts with gas and electric companies, deeds and trusts, wills and genealogies regarding inheritance rights, land surveys and inspection records, appraisals and environmental assessments, financial documents and insurance certificates, photographs, maps, and correspondence with land owners, attorneys, court clerks, and others. Other documents about acquisitions and relocations also illuminate the RATC's work with the Appalachian Trail Conference (also Conservancy), U.S. National Park Service, and U.S. Forest Service to acquire and monitor property and to build and relocate trails.

The first series also contains management and conservation plans, general files, and RATC historical materials. The histories discuss the founding and development of the club as well as large trail relocations and the work of past members and officers. There are also several photo albums from the 1930s-1950s.

The second series contains files created, collected, or maintained by people affiliated with the RATC, both officers and individual members, about the history and operation of the RATC. These people include club president Thomas Campbell, the Otey family, president Dick Clark, local journalist Bill Cochran, newsletter editor Zetta Campbell, longtime trail supervisor Charles Parry, hike leaders Sigfried and Ursula Kolmstetter, hike leader Andy Layne, president Roger Holnback, and longtime social chair Linda Akers. Documents include correspondence, handwritten notes, additional meeting minutes and newsletters, photographs, newspaper clippings, and more. They also cover land acquisitions, building trails and shelters, group events and conferences, management and land use, and of course hikes on the AT.

The following are common abbreviations or acronyms found in the collection inventory:

• AEP - Appalachian Electric Power Company
• APCO - Appalachian Power Company, a subsidiary of AEP
• AT - Appalachian Trail
• ATC - Appalachian Trail Conference or Appalachian Trail Conservancy
• RATC - Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club
• NPS - United States National Park Service
• USFS or FS - United States Forest Service