The John Wilson Townsend Papers consist of letters received by Townsend which reflect literary, business, and personal concerns. The bulk of the materials consist of letters received by Townsend, as well as photographs, book reviews, manuscripts and various other items about Kentucky literary figures. These include, but are not limited to, James Lane Allen, Madison Cawein, Irvin S. Cobb, Willard R. Jillson, Harriette Simpson Arnow, Samuel M. Wilson, Paul Sawyier, Otto A. Rothert, and Jesse Stuart. The letters offer insights into authors that might not otherwise be found, as well as discussions of their works and biographical information. Many letters simply talk about sending or receiving autographed copies of books. Some letters were not written to Townsend, but seem to have been collected by him instead.

In addition there are also letters concerning horses, as Townsend raised Thoroughbreds for years while living at Graceland Farm.

The collection is generally arranged alphabetically by the author of the letter, but in cases where Townsend is not the recipient, the letter was alphabetized by the recipient's name, with a notation in this finding aid of who the letter was from. Letters about a single person are filed by that person's name rather than the author of the letter. All photographs, book reviews, news clippings and other items are filed with the subject making the arrangement a collection of subject files.

There are multiple subjects per folder and because of this the folders have been numbered with a dash to maintain the subject integrity of the arrangement.