The collection contains approximately 500 photos of various projects undertaken by the program, such as parks improvements, road construction, sewer and water main projects, food preservation and distribution and two drives to raise food at Thanksgiving ("Fill the Barrel") and Toys at Christmas ("For an Empty Stocking"). The photos present a vivid depiction of local municipal welfare activities during the Great Depression, prior to any such federal action.

Most of these photo prints are 8x10, with two sets of old numbers on the back. A set of handwritten descriptions is usually found at the top, including the numbers used in the descriptions below. Another set of “PBD” or “OBD” numbers was probably from early library file processing.

While this is basically a photo collection, ancillary documents are now being appended which are associated with the images, such as the “City Social Service Grocery Order” form, which would have been used by those making requests from the various food stores depicted in the photos.