The papers of John Henry Towers (1885-1955), pioneering naval aviator, span the years from 1830 to 1989, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period between 1906 and 1955. The collection reflects a career devoted to naval aviation from its inception in 1911 to World War II and after. Featured in the papers is Towers's continuing effort in behalf of growth, recognition, and advancement of naval aviation. The papers are divided into the following series: Diaries , Personal File , Biographical Notebooks , Miscellany , Addition , and Oversize .

The Diaries , 1939-1950, are arranged chronologically and include Towers's years with the United States Navy and Pan American Airways. His naval diaries covering the period from his last months as a captain until his retirement as an admiral, 1939-1947, and reveal Towers's zeal and advocacy for naval aviation. Missing from the naval diaries are the entries from 3 October 1942 to 22 August 1943. The Pan American Airways diaries, 1948-1950, record Towers's first three years as a vice president of that organization. They focus on meetings and conferences, sometimes with former naval aviation associates, and relate to aircraft and airline equipment.

The Personal File , 1906-1962, contains biographical sketches of Towers as well as correspondence, diplomatic papers, miscellaneous personal records, and speeches and writings. Included in the correspondence are letters written by Towers to family members while he was sailing with the "Great White Fleet." His letters to his wife Pierrette discuss the navy "old guard" and its resistance to naval aviation, visits to Pacific islands during World War II, the success of aircraft carriers against the Japanese around Manila in the Philippines, and a trip to Japan for Pan American Airways. The naval correspondence consists of letters and memoranda regarding naval directives and plans. Two items among the miscellaneous letters are notes penned to Towers by the expatriate writer Henry James. The orders for duty file represents a chronological record of Towers's naval assignments, and his speeches and writings reflect the varied audiences to which he spoke and wrote on the subjects of naval aviation and aircraft. Towers's article "The Great Hop," published in Everybody's Magazine in November 1919, recounts the "sailing" of his NC-3 airplane into the Azores after it had crashed into the sea during the first transatlantic flight in May 1919.

The Biographical Notebooks , 1845-1969, were assembled during an effort by Pierrette Anne Towers to gather information on her husband's career for a biography she planned to write. Although, she never achieved her goal, she turned over the notebooks and other papers to Clark G. Reynolds, who published a biography of the admiral in 1991 entitled, Admiral John H. Towers: The Struggle for Naval Air Supremacy . The notebooks are divided into two categories: chronological and subject. The chronological notebooks documenting the full span of Towers's naval career include copies of his diaries interspersed with photographs, correspondence, memoranda, transcriptions of letters and tape recordings, newspaper and magazine clippings, photocopies of correspondence, notes, and excerpts from biographies and autobiographies of military leaders. Typed copies of documents on blue paper represent duplicates of photocopies that were in the possession of Pierrette Anne Towers which had become too fragile or difficult to read.

Subject notebooks in the series, 1845-1967, cover various topics and persons highlighting Towers's career. Five notebooks contain excerpts from the biographies and autobiographies of Henry Harley Arnold, Lord Hastings L. Ismay, George C. Kenney, Ernest J. King, and Marc A. Mitscher. A notebook titled "Transatlantic Flight" contains photographs of the flight crews and the NC airplanes as well as weather charts and original naval memoranda used on the flight. Another notebook, "Chronology of U.S. Naval Aviation," is Arthur B. Cook's copy of a manuscript prepared by Harold Blaine Miller as a companion to Miller's book Navy Wings . Other notebooks contain information on the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, transcriptions of personal letters from Towers to Pierrette Anne Towers before their marriage, and a carbon copy of his statement as a member of the board of inquiry investigating the Shenandoah dirigible disaster in 1925.

The Miscellany series includes aviation logs for Curtiss and Wright airplanes; navigation charts, reports, and a scrapbook pertaining to the transatlantic flight of 1919; blueprints of flying boats; Towers family photographs; and Pierrette Anne Towers's correspondence, including a note from Clementine Churchill. A register of visitors to the Towers's home in Honolulu, Hawaii, contains notable signatures and references to the testing of the atomic bomb.

The Addition , 1830-1900, contains photocopies of a travel journal kept by Towers's maternal grandfather, Reuben S. Norton, on his trips from Massachusetts to New Orleans, Louisiana, and various places in Georgia in 1830, as well as typewritten transcripts of Norton's diary, 1861-1895, while he lived in Rome, Georgia, primarily during the Civil War. Included also are typewritten reminiscences by Admiral Towers's father, William M. Towers, written in 1900 recounting his Civil War service with General Nathan Bedford Forrest.