Jessica Mitford is best known for her first book, , which exposes the abuses of the American funeral industry. Mitford's attorney husband, Robert Treuhaft, stimulated her interest in the funeral industry while defending some of its alleged victims in court. Treuhaft was also active as an officer of the East Bay Memorial Association (later known as the Bay Area Funeral Society), a funeral cooperative. His involvement in this organization accounts for the presence of its records from 1954 to 1962 in the Mitford papers. In 1961, Mitford and two other authors published an article, lambasting the funeral industry for its avarice and lack of scruples. This article received such a favorable public response that Mitford resolved to write an entire book on the subject.

This series spans two decades, from the records of the East Bay Memorial Association in 1954 to fan letters received by Mitford in 1973. It includes four subseries: Research, Works, Promoting the Book, and Response to the Book. The Research subseries begins with Research by Chapter. Chapters 2, 12, and 18 are not represented. Certain chapter titles are rather oblique: Chapter 4, deals primarily with parlours and caskets; Chapter 8, discusses the florist's role in funerals; Chapter 9, concerns cemeteries; and Chapter 10, explores Forest Lawn, a southern California memorial park. Under Research by Topic are the records of the East Bay Memorial Association (EBMA). The article, by Roul Touley makes reference to the Mitford and her activties with the EBMA. Also present are the results of a mail survey of memorial societies conducted by Mitford. Under General Research is extensive correspondence with individuals from the funeral industry, the clergy, and other segments of society. Many of these correspondents are referred to in the book. J. Freeman is a pseudonym used by the Treuhafts in many letters. Mitford's articles appear in the Works section. of 1963 presages her book of that same year. The manuscript of is present in multiple forms, from initial drafts to galley proofs. Records regarding the book's promotion include pre-release publicity, advertisements and articles, a list of persons to receive copies of the book, and material on a national tour sponsored by Simon and Schuster in the fall of 1963. Critical response to the book is heavily documented through reviews from the American and British press. Correspondence from this period includes exchanges between Mitford and Judith Viorst on President Kennedy's funeral. Dating from her first article, Mitford received letters from individuals seeking a sympathetic hearing for their experiences. Publication of the book increased this flow of letters which she initially categorized as interesting and boring. In the spring of 1964 she discontinued this designation, filing all such letters as fan letters.

Legal documents, correspondence, printed materials, notes, interviews, typescripts and other materials represent Jessica Mitford's second investigatory work, . The book analyzes the 1969 trial in which the U.S. government tried the five aforementioned defendants on conspiracy charges. As activists critical of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, the defendants publicly denounced the policies of the Selective Service Administration and encouraged draft evasion. These activities elicited an indictment on charges of conspiring to subvert federal draft laws, although the five defendants had never actually met together prior to their indictments. The ensuing trial resulted in the defendants being found guilty with the exception of Marcus Raskin. A federal appeals court later reversed the decision. Of the defendants, Dr. Benjamin Spock stands out as the most prominent figure. A renowned pediatrician, he has published a number of books on child rearing. It is primarily due to Spock's reputation that the trial garnered so much publicity in the press. In her book, Mitford presents the trial as a travesty and condemns the American government for using conspiracy laws to deprive citizens of their civil rights.

Because Mitford's files for were acquired in a largely disorganized state, it was necessary to impose an order on this series of her papers, which follows the same organization as the other two. The series includes four subseries: Research, Works, Response to the Book, and Personal. The research subseries is by far the most extensive of the four, comprising some 2 linear feet of records. Included are materials concerning civil rights and antiwar demonstrations, and draft evasion and the draft policies of the Selective Service Administration. The subseries also contains information pertaining to conspiracy trials of other civil rights and antiwar activists. Bobby Seale and the Chicago Conspiracy Trial are prominent within this category. Conspiracy as a legal concept is represented by a file containing several articles on the subject. The largest body of material in the first subseries, however, describes the Spock trial itself. Legal briefs, articles, and a transcript of the trial proceedings are included, along with information pertaining to the defense, prosecution, jury, and verdict appeal. The defense documentation contains biographical information on the defendants, as well as information about the American Civil Liberties Union, which provided attorneys for some of the defendants. Of interest in Spock's files is correspondence between Spock and the White House concerning the Vietnam conflict. This includes photocopies of five letters from President Lyndon Johnson and one letter from Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Interviews predominate the materials filed under the prosecution and the jury.

The bulk of the materials in the second subseries, Works, consists of drafts for the various sections of the book. Four emended drafts of the text are included. Response to the Book, the third subseries, is a brief file containing the information generated in response to the book's publication. Of note here is correspondence between Dr. Spock and MacDonalds publishers in which Spock expresses his opinion of Mitford's book.

Personal, the final subseries, contains correspondence and photographs which originated while Mitford was writing her book, but have no direct bearing on the book itself. Correspondence between Mitford and her husband, Robert Treuhaft, appear separately within the correspondence category, the majority being from Mitford to Treuhaft. Also present is a letter from Spock to Mitford concerning draft resistance.

This series of Jessica Mitford's papers, pertaining to her book , is comprised of five subseries: Research, Works, Promotion of the Book, Response to the Book, and Personal. By far the bulk of the series is comprised of research materials, including correspondence, notes, printed materials, interviews, legal documents, financial documents, and reports. The first section of the research subseries is arranged according to chapter. No folders exist for chapters 1 and 15. Chapter 8, addresses behavior modification programs employed as a method of rehabilitating convicts. Chapter 9, discusses the use of prisoners as guinea pigs in testing experimental drugs.

The second section of the research subseries is arranged by topic. In conducting her research, Mitford compiled rather large files on various organizations, many of which provided her with background information and, in the case of the Guggenheim Foundation, funding and a research assistant, Susan Sussman. Other notable organizations represented include the American Civil Liberties Union, American Corrections Association, and the Committee for the Study of Incarceration. Materials relating to the Prison Law Project and its attorney, Fay Stender, appear throughout this section. Among other things, Stender filed a legal suit against the Inmate Welfare Fund of California on grounds that the state was misappropriating inmate monies. Correspondence between Johnny Cash Inc. and Mitford, concerning Mr. Cash's charitable contributions to the Inmate Welfare Fund is also present. The California prison system is heavily documented in Mitford's research files, with the Washington prison system a distant second. Noteworthy in the Folsom Prison files are prisoner short stories and poetry. San Quentin and Soledad are also well represented. Mitford was personally involved in supporting an inmate strike at Washington's McNeil Island Prison in 1971. An injunction and restraining order filed by Mitford against the penitentiary are present in the Washington files. Individuals prominently represented include prison researchers James Robison and Joe Kagan, prison reform advocates Ysabel Rennie and Louis Wolfson, and prisoner activist Roney Nunes. George Jackson, an inmate of California's Soledad Prison and author of the book , was a well-known black revolutionary of the early 1970's. A bizarre series of events resulted in his death at the hands of San Quentin prison guards in 1971. A Mitford interview of Jackson and correspondence between the two just prior to his death are present in the collection. Also noteworthy are materials pertaining to the book , written by Indiana inmates. Of special interest in the last section of research materials, General Research, is a collection of prison system newsletters and files containing Mitford's correspondence with prisoners (1971-73). One inmate in particular, James R. Williamson, is anonymously quoted throughout . Among Mitford's interviews is an audio cassette recording of a call-in radio interview hosted by former convict Dr. Korn and former warden Mr. Prescott.

As for the second subseries, Works, two of Mitford's four articles on prisons, and are represented in the collection. Notes, fragments, drafts, and galley proofs comprise the remainder of this subseries. The seven drafts of the text are in various stages of completion. The remaining three subseries, Promotion of the Book, Response to the Book, and Personal, are extremely small in relation to the rest of the series, comprising a mere five folders.