The Lucille Ketchum Carter papers date from 1936 to 2008 and measure 12 linear inches. The personal items in the collection include financial records, correspondence, notes, newspaper clippings, and Carter's handwritten memories of her early childhood and marriage. Materials related to her husband, Congressman Steven V. Carter, include biographical information prepared for his campaign and a description of his collection in the Special Collections Department at the University of Iowa Libraries. Lucille Carter's writings include letters to the editor and essays, many of which emphasize the importance of democracy. Photographs include black and white photocopies of a photograph of Carter with her husband and two sons in the 1940s and of Carter's grandchildren, and a few color snapshots of Carter in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Lucille Carter and her nursing school classmates formed a correspondence club called the Round Robin, and members wrote to each other for over forty years about developments in their personal and professional lives. The collection includes over fifty letters written by Carter to her classmates in which she discusses many topics, including her journey to a new life following her husband's death.

The political items in the collection consist largely of booklets, photographs, invitations, and momentos of events honoring US presidents. Also included is a history of the Congressional Club, which Carter joined when her husband was elected to Congress in 1958. The Congressional Club is a non-political organization formed in 1908 to promote friendship among the wives of the memebers of Congress. Family members of ex-Congress members may retain their membership, which Carter did. The materials on President Clinton include many items related to Hillary Clinton, who Carter served as a volunteer in the Office of First Lady's Correspondence. Carter has affixed handwritten explanations to some of the items in her collection.