Correspondence, photographs, published and unpublished writings by O'Malley, and material relating to his teaching activities, including student papers, class record books, and lectures. Correspondents include Willa Cather, Desmond Fitzgerald, Jacques Maritain, Edward Goerner, Edwin O'Connor, and Hannah Arendt.

Hugh Rank, a 1954 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, was an author and member of the National Council of Teachers of English. He wrote about persuasive techniques in advertising, and in 1974, he published a Twayne Series biography of Edwin O’Connor, an Irish-American author. Contents of the collection include research material collected in the process of writing his book on O’Connor, as well as teaching aids and publications on evaluating rhetoric in advertising.