Photographs and photomechanical prints of individual Catholic clergy and religious, especially portraits of the Popes and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church; religious artwork; groups of Catholic religious, clergy, and lay people; Catholic missions and missionaries in the United States, Japan, and India, specifically the Bengal region which became East Pakistan and then Bangladesh; and Catholic churches, schools, orphanages, and other institutions.

The photographs and prints were collected largely by James F. Edwards for the Bishops' Memorial Hall at Notre Dame, which was a museum and archives dedicated to preserving the history of American Catholicism. The collection concentrates on the American church, but it also includes photographs and prints relating to Catholics and their institutions in other countries, most notably Canada and Europe.

Also artifacts collected for the Bishops' Memorial Hall and records of the enterprise.