The correspondence series is divided into 2 subseries: “Letters written to Parke Rouse” and “Letters from Parke Rouse.” The correspondence is further organized by year ranges, maintaining the chronological and sometimes alphabetical arrangement used by Parke Rouse.

The time period covers Rouse's childhood; his college years at Washington and Lee; his early career at the Richmond Times Dispatch; his time in the Navy during and after World War II; his later years as a successful columnist and writer; and his retirement years.

Most time periods include not only the letters that Parke Rouse received, but the letters he wrote, giving different perspectives to the events in his life.

Some correspondents from 1950-1997 include Thomas N. Allen; J. Lindsay Almond, Jr; J. Bell, Jr; Thomas C. Boushall, Carl Bridenbough; Arleigh Burke; Harry F. Byrd, Jr., Herb Caen; Mosby Cardozo; Lester J. Cappon; Leslie Cheek; Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, A. Christian Compton; John Warren Cooke; Virginius Dabney; John N. Dalton, Colgate W. Darden, Jr., Clifford Dowdey; John W. Elrod; Gerald R. Ford; Mills E. Godwin, Jr.; Thomas A. Graves, Jr.; Bowman Gray; Elmon T. Gray; Albertis S. Harrison, Jr.; Robert V. Hatcher; Quintin Hogg, the Lord Hailsham of St. Marleybone; Hubert H. Humphrey; Jacques Kosciusko-Morizet; William A. Lashley; Dumas Malone; Marvin Mandel; Mrs. Edward Stephens (Helen) McCarthy; Mary Tyler Cheek McClenahan; Charles McDowell; Roger Mudd; Eugene Ormandy; Davis Y. Paschall; Lewis F. Powell, Jr.; O. W. (Tom) Riegel; Charles S. Robb; Winthrop Rockefeller; the Rt. Rev. David S. Rose, D.D.; Duncan Sandys; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; Vaughan H. Scott; William L. Scott; Arnold Eric Sevareid; William B. Spong, Jr.; Margaret Thatcher; The Times Court Circular; Clayton Torrence; Paul S. Trible, Jr.; Stewart L. Udall; John C. West; Walter Muir Whitehill; John D. Wilson; and Tom Wolfe.