The collection consists of reports, meeting minutes, agendas, notes, speeches, legal documents, contracts, and other materials related to California water issues in the 1960s and 1970s.

Papers include legislative histories of San Luis Act of 1959, Reclamation Act of 1902, Central Valley Project Act of 1933, and the Federal Power Act; also includes cumulated material on "unjust enrichment" in operation of State Water Project and on court cases involving the Dept. of Water Resources in period 1950-65; files on State Water Project financing.

The Ronald B. Robie papers consist of files and documents assembled by Robie during his years with the Assembly Committee on Water, the State Water Resources Control Board, and the California Department of Water Resources. The collection contains materials whose dates span from 1963-1982; the majority, however, are concentrated in the period from 1967-1979.