Typescripts, correspondence, clippings, photographs, sound recordings, printed material, handwritten notes, ephemera, and artifacts, 1929 to 1998 (bulk 1975-1995), created and maintained by Joe Nick Patoski, document much of his writing career, as well as some aspects of his business and personal life.

The collection has been arranged into nine series: Writing (1975-1998, n.d.), Correspondence (1971-1998, n.d.), Promotional Material (1975-1998, n.d.), Research Material (1929-1998, n.d.), Artist Development Inc. (1985-1986, n.d.), Personal (1980-1995), Photographic Material (n.d.), Ephemera and Printed Material (1975-1997), and Sound Recordings (1962-1990). These series have been created by the cataloger, as the materials arrived with very little discernible order. Though Research Material and Writing are not the two largest series in the collection, they do offer the most insight into Patoski's research and writing process, as well as into the topics that interest him. The largest series include Sound Recordings (5.5 lin. ft.), Promotional Material (almost 4 lin. ft.), and Research Material (3.25 lin. ft.).

Music, in particular Texas and Southwestern music and musicians, is one of Patoski's major areas of interest. This is well documented in the collection, as each series contains material that reveals Patoski's involvement in the music world as a manager, a critic, and as a fan. Much of the music material (photographs, interviews, clippings, ephemera) in the Research Material series was complied by Patoski, and it relates to later articles and books written by Patoski. The largest concentration of music related material is in the Promotional Material series, but the majority of these materials (publicity photographs, press releases, news clippings) are commercial in nature, and were routinely mailed to Patoski. Therefore, these materials do not necessarily reflect his personal tastes or interests in music.

Patoski's passion for music has not prevented him from writing about many other topics. He has written on topics ranging from miniature golf to B-B-Q to the closing of Aquarena Springs in San Marcos. The wide variety of topics Patoski has researched and written about is well represented in the Writing series and the Research series.

A relatively smaller group of material in this collection relates to Patoski's personal life. In the Correspondence series, many of the letters, particularly the letters from his father, offer insight into Patoski's relationships with family and friends. The Photographic Material series contains many unidentified snapshots of Patoski with friends and family throughout his life.

This series documents the wide variety of topics Patoski has written about, and helps illustrate his writing process from initial handwritten notes to published articles. Contained in this series are clippings of Patoski's work, as well as unpublished band and club reviews, creative works, and a large quantity of handwritten notes. A course packet for a feature writing class taught by Patoski is also included in this series.

This series contains Patoski's personal and professional correspondence, separated into groupings, for Texas Monthly Correspondence and General Correspondence. The majority of the general correspondence is personal in nature. Of particular interest is the relatively large number of letters in general correspondence from Patoski's father, Victor Patoski, most of which are signed simply with the letter V. The Texas Monthly correspondence are mostly from fans and critics of Patoski's work in the magazine. Also contained in the Texas Monthly correspondence are interoffice memos, letters from other publications soliciting Patoski's work, correspondence regarding editing, general fan letters, and several personal letters.

This series of subject files and artist files, made up of newspaper clippings, notes, interviews, photographs and ephemera, illustrates Patoski's many areas of interest and his research methods. Patoski wrote about and published pieces relating to many of the topics and people in the subject and artist files. Of particular note is the large amount on material on Joe "King" Carrasco and his band, who Patoski managed in the 1980s.

This series consists of bank records and a photograph from Joe Nick Patoski's music management business, Artist Development, Inc. This business existed from about 1985 to 1987, and managed several music groups including Joe "King" Carrasco, Dino Lee, and The True Believers. Patoski managed these groups while he was also working full-time at Texas Monthly.

This series contains a small group of documents pertaining to Patoski's personal financial, legal, and medical matters, as well as art works on paper, and an array of artifacts. Of particular interest is Patoski's collection of mostly music related buttons.

The photographs in this series are more personal in nature than those in previous series. Many images of Patoski throughout his life are contained in this series.

This series is a collection of miscellaneous clippings and notes. They are divided into different categories. They are writing related, travel related, health and medical related, or arts related.

The majority of phonographs in this series are from Patoski's personal collection, but some were sent to him as promotional material. The audio cassettes are mostly non-professional recordings of music, and a few are of interviews with musicians. A relatively large portion of the audio cassettes are of the band Joe "King" Carrasco, which Patoski managed during the 1980s.