The records of the Confederate States of America span the years 1854-1889, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1861-1865. The collection relates to the formation of the government of the Confederacy and the conduct of its internal, external, and military affairs.

With few exceptions, the collection consists of official or semiofficial records generated by departments of the Confederate government and their agents. The departments of state , justice , treasury , navy , and war and the post office are represented, along with material relating to the president, the congress , and the constitution .

Most numerous are the records of the Department of State containing correspondence exchanged for most of the period between Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin and departmental agents and diplomats abroad, particularly those stationed in Belgium, France, Great Britain, and Mexico. The records are supplemented by the inclusion of the James Wolcott Wadsworth Collection of similar material. Other records of the department relate to administrative and financial affairs , passports, pardons , appointments to office, applications for office , and maritime and domestic affairs of the Confederacy. As noted below, the records of the Department of State were once known as the "Pickett Papers."

The records of the treasury and post office departments are chiefly concerned with subordinate offices. The records of the War Department contain early correspondence of the secretary of war, general orders, strength returns, muster rolls and quartermaster records. Justice Department material consists of records of Confederate courts in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Proclamations, messages, and other papers of President Jefferson Davis , acts and resolutions of the Confederate congress , material relating to the constitution and secession, and miscellaneous items complete the collection. A Miscellany series includes documents relating to the state governments of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, printed and published material covering the statues and proclamations of the Confederate government, and blank official forms.

Prior to the evacuation of Richmond, Virginia, by the Confederate government, Judah P. Benjamin ordered the records packed in wooden cases for removal from the capital and placed them in the custody of the chief clerk of the department, William J. Bromwell. Bromwell hid the records of in a barn near Charlotte, North Carolina. Following a quarrel with Benjamin, Bromwell disclosed the location of the records to John T. Pickett, who had been a Confederate agent in Mexico and whose personal papers are also in the Library of Congress. Pickett sold the records to the United States in 1872 for $75,000. Among the nearly one hundred additions was the transfer in 1920 of a group of Confederate treasury records from the United States Treasury Department. In 1921, much material now in the War Department series was received from descendants of Confederate officers. The series entitled Additions consists of several miscellaneous groups of records formerly organized under separate headings. The material consists chiefly of Confederate financial bonds.

Correspondence of many of the leading officials of the Confederate States appears in the records. In addition to the dominant figure, Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin, other correspondents include Bolling Baker, G. T. Beauregard, Clement C. Clay, Lewis Conger, Jefferson Davis, Edwin DeLeon, Anthony J. Guirot, Charles J. Helm, Lewis Heyliger, Henry Hotze, L. Q. C. Lamar, A. Dudley Mann, James M. Mason, Christopher G. Memminger, John T. Pickett, John A. Quintero, John H. Reagan, Raphael Semmes, John Slidell, Alexander Hamilton Stephens, Jacob Thompson, William H. Trescott, LeRoy P. Walker, and William Lowndes Yancey.