The papers of Nathan F. Twining span the period 1924-1960, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the years 1950-1960, when Twining served first as vice chief and chief of staff of the United States Air Force and then as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Included in the collection are correspondence, diaries, mail and engagement logs, speeches and statements, biographical material, certificates, flight records, newspaper clippings, printed matter, photographs, and miscellaneous items. The papers are organized into fourteen series: Daily Logs , Personal Correspondence , Special Correspondence , Office Files , Subject File , Speeches and Writings File , Miscellany , Classified , Top Secret , Restricted Data (Classified) , Restricted Data (Top Secret) , North Atlantic Treaty Organization , and Oversize .

The Daily Logs series is comprehensive for Twining's activities for 1951-1960, and records of his official engagements as chief of staff of the air force and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are in the Special Correspondence . The Office File bulks largest as a series, with the most complete portion covering the period of his service as chief of staff of the air force from 1953 to 1957. Included is material relating to air force activities and commands, relations with Congress, and correspondence with other air force officers and the office of the secretary of defense. Many of the statements Twining made before congressional committees in support of air force programs are in the Speeches and Writings File . Relatively few original documents pertain to World War II or earlier periods.

Correspondents include Omar Nelson Bradley, Travis Bryan, W. Barton Leach, Lauris Norstad, and Charles Erwin Wilson.