The survey materials in this collection are generally organized alphabetically by township with separate folders for townships without parcel numbers, and township survey notes. The “township” designation folder contains survey materials that were marked with Washtenaw County property parcel numbers and identified by the eWashtenaw HistWeb project. The “township, no parcel #” folders contain survey materials that were not incorporated into the HistWeb database because a parcel numbers were not identified. The “township, survey notes” folder designates materials that supplemented the survey cards and includes original charts, maps, and collection notes.

The organizational method employed here reflects the same organization that was present in the original rural building survey (by township) with further folder distinctions to show the organization system employed by eWashtnaw (parcel number, no parcel number). Some descriptive titles have been assigned to materials with no apparent title, such as subsequent student surveys.

Survey materials primarily consist of one of two different survey cards, either handwritten or typed, that aimed to collect primary information about the structures on a property. Most are affixed with a small reference black and white photo. Some have larger color photos. Many have sketched site plans. Additional surveys that were conducted as student projects are held in separate folders along with the relevant student papers, charts, and maps.

The collection is a strong record of pre-1930 rural vernacular buildings in Washtenaw County as extant in early 1980s. Not all townships were equally covered in the original or subsequent surveys. Excluded from the original survey were Webster Township and the southern half of Lima Township. Missing from the current collection is a good representation of Lodi and Bridgewater Township. Freedom Township is only represented as a subsequent student project. Well represented in additional student surveys are several neighborhoods of downtown Ann Arbor, which was not the focus of the original, rural survey.

Most folders are identified by the geographic designation of township, or other defined area as common practice within Washtenaw County, such as a CDP (census designated place). Folders that contain reports, individual papers, or additional survey efforts are designated by their tittle. Where a paper or project included survey cards, those cards have been left in the folder with the paper, rather than removed to a folder of geographic/township location. An example of this is the Freedom Township materials which are in the folder “Student Paper, Mickulka, Patricia, A Survey of Freedom Township.” In several cases subsequent survey materials had no accompanying report, and have been filed in their own folder based on geographic location or theme. The folder of survey cards for Ann Arbor (not the township) at the beginning of the collection, and the folder of Fast Food Establishments at the end are respectively examples.