The collection consists of material created and accumulated by William Heyen in the course of his activities as a poet and editor, and primarily documents Heyen's literary career from 1995 to 2009. Material includes correspondence with poets and writers, writings by Heyen and others, bound copies of Heyen's journals dating from 1965 to 1985, original journals dating from 1994 to 2006, notebooks, printed material, and other papers.