The first subseries, Active Service (Subseries A, 1942-1945; 1.8 cu. ft.), contains the records concerning Thurmond's duties and responsibilities in the Civil Affairs Division during World War II. The division's mission was to occupy, govern, and to help restore devastated, war-torn countries and their economies, and usually arrived during large-scale combat operations. Thurmond studied and used this material in connection with his civil affairs / military government responsibilities. These materials cover numerous directives and rules dealing with civilians, displaced persons, welfare, finance, background information on Germany and France, etc. There are organizational charts of the Civil Affairs Division, some maps, some general army correspondence, and a folder of U.S. Naval Reserve correspondence. Also included is a report discussing the activities of the First Army Civil Affairs Division during the D-Day Invasion. Items of interest include Thurmond's original military service record, a copy of the victory order of May 9, 1945 by Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the manifest, dated June 3, 1944, which Thurmond used on his glider ride with the Eighty-Second Airborne on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

The second subseries, Reserve Service (Subseries B, 1946-1959; 4.275 cu. ft.), is divided into two sub-subseries: General File (1946-1959) and Correspondence (1943-1957). The General File contains civil affairs / military government training materials and manuals used by Thurmond when he taught basic and advanced officer courses. The material on the 352d and 360th Military Government Area Headquarters Units describes the duties and functions of these units. Also of interest is a civil affairs / military government textbook which discusses the first year of the occupation in Europe. The Correspondence sub-subseries contains material pertaining to the army, the military government, and the 360th Military Government Area Headquarters from 1946-1955.

The third subseries, Military Associations (Subseries C, 1948-1958; 4.275 cu. ft.), concerns Thurmond's involvement in the Reserve Officers Association and the Military Government Association. This subseries is divided into the Correspondence sub-subseries and the General File sub-subseries. A large part of the Correspondence sub-subseries covers the period of Thurmond's presidency of the South Carolina Department of the Reserve Officers Association to the end of his term as the organization's national president. The General File sub-subseries contains material that pertains to the Reserve Officers Association. These records include directories, minutes, convention data, memos, membership information, financial statements, and correspondence and statements by Strom Thurmond.

Important correspondents include Walter Brown, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Burnet R. Maybank, and Jean Thurmond. Related military correspondence can be found in the Subject Correspondence Series, 1954-1962.