The Martha Nash papers date from 1939 to 2000 and measure 2.75 linear feet. The papers are arranged in four series: Biographical information; Catholic Church, society, and reform; Economics and politics; and Photographs. The bulk of this collection documents the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) and the Dubuque Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women's (Dubuque ACCW) efforts to bring about religious and social reform in light of Vatican II. Nash's participation and leadership in these groups overlapped significantly with her work in civil rights and racial justice. This collection reveals Nash's commitment to community building and to the inseparable nature of local and universal efforts for freedom and justice.

Series one, Biographical information (1939-1998 and undated) includes Nash's diary (spanning 1947 to1948), resumes, letters of recommendation, writings and speeches, election materials, and newspaper clippings. It also includes certificates, plaques, and school yearbooks.

The second series, Catholic Church, society, and reform (1961-1991) is divided into two subseries: Iowa, and National and international. The first subseries, Iowa, contains correspondence, conference papers, study programs, and printed materials of the Dubuque ACCW,including material on its Conference on Religion and Race in 1963 and 1964 and on the diocese's pastoral council. The second subseries, National and international, contains NCCW conference papers following the Conference on Religion and Race in January 1963, correspondence, newsletters, and pamphlets on religious reform, including the international peace conference Nash attended on behalf of the NCCW in Cyprus in 1972. It also includes national Catholic magazines and grant writing materials.

The third series, Economics and politics (1959-1993) is divided into three subseries: Iowa,United Nations (UN) publications and United States. The Iowa files (1966-1993) contain reports on race relations, women, health care, and education in the state. The United Nations publication files (1963-1975) are comprised entirely of printed pamphlets, booklets and small books by and about the UN. The United States files (1959-1974) contain mostly printed materials on its relations with other nations and race relations within the borders. Finally, this series includes NAACP materials.

The fourth series, Photographs (1948-1991 and undated) consists of portraits of Nash and family snapshots including a disbound photograph album with photographs from Nash's visits to Cyprus and Washington, D. C. This series includes two photographs of Nash's husband Warren Nash and sister Betty Jean Furgerson with jazz musician Duke Ellington and Waterloo disc jockey Herbert Cox. Another photograph dateing from 1965 features Roy Wilkins, then executive secretary ofthe National NAACP, greeting the Nash family at a national convention. Jazz musician Clark Terry appears in another photograph playing music for Martha and Warren Nash's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary in 1973. This series also contains the exhibit catalog from "Legacy of Africa in the New World"; Nash served on the advisory committee that planned this exhibition at the Waterloo Museum of Art in 1991. This series includes a number of photo albums of Nash's family, friends, and college life.

The fifth series, Artifacts (1977-1981 and undated) includes plaques, certificats, a framed photograph, a hat, and a key to the city of Birmingham, Alabama.