The Carolyn Dyer papers date from 1905 to 2016 and measure 15 linear feet (35 boxes). The papers are arranged in 6 series: The Nancy Drew Conference series, Professional, Mildred Wirt Benson Books, International Nancy Drew publications, Revised Nancy Drew publications, and Supplemental Nancy Drew publications. The last four series consist primarily of books.

The Nancy Drew Conference series chronicles the first conference held on the legacy and impact of the Nancy Drew novels. Organized by Dyer at the University of Iowa, the conference included a reception for Mildred Wirt Benson and breakout sessions on the Nancy Drew books and their relationship with notions of gender, childhood, and culture. The series features a list of participants, conference schedule, and press which reported from the conference. News publications span from pre-conference promotional material to works in the late nineties looking back on the event. Paper submissions, both professional and student, are included. The series also consists of testimonials from individuals on their experience with Nancy Drew. Solicited from men and women across generations and across the country, the testimonial, range from 500-1500 words and feature memories and interpretations of Nancy Drew. Themes include the escapist nature of Nancy Drew in youthful imaginations, Nancy Drew as a 'perfect teen', a figure of admiration and resentment, and feminist reflections on the influence of Nancy Drew. The series includes an MFA thesis on interpreting Nancy Drew. It also houses the pre-conference planning papers. Requests for funding, planning commissions, and research on Mildred Wirt Benson and Nancy Drew are included.

The Professional series contains printed theses and dissertations that Dyer supervised in the school of Journalism at the University of Iowa. Many of the works focus on gender, the press, and the Midwest. The bulk of the series consists of Dyer’s research into Nancy Drew and her impact on the world. This is broken up into types of research: TV, films, scholarly essays, international, etc. Drafts for papers and speeches based on this research are also housed here. Her research on Mildred Wirt Benson, including Dyer’s nomination of Benson to the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame, comprises more work about Nancy Drew and her creator. There are also works not about Nancy Drew, such as the paper “The Business of Publishing Newspapers in Antebellum Wisconsin”, included in this series. A collection of Dyer’s correspondence with artist Laura Ruby and the pictures of her displays is housed here.

The Mildred Wirt Benson Books series consists of Dyer's collection of ninety Mildred Wirt Benson books. These include her four standalone works, the Ruth Fielding books, the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories (most are Applewood reprints of the original text), the Doris Force Mystery Stories, the Madge Sterling series, the Kay Tracy Mystery Stories, the three books in the Mystery Story for Girls series, the Dana Girls Mystery Stories, the Mildred A. Wirt Mystery Series, the Penny Nichols Mystery Series, the Penny Parker Mystery books, the Brownie Scouts, the Dan Carter series, and the Girl Scouts books.

The International Nancy Drew series contains Nancy Drew books from outside the United States. There are five books from Norway, eight from Sweden, one from Britain, one from Japan, five from France, one from Iceland, and one from Finland.

The Revised Nancy Drew series are the printings of Nancy Drew that Grosset & Dunlap started to rework in 1959. An explanation of why the publisher chose to start their revision process and the details of what changed is included.

The Supplemental Nancy Drew is comprised of non-Mildred Wirt Benson Nancy Drew books and Nancy Drew adjacent materials. Nancy Drew: the Case of the Disappearing Deejay is not by Benson, instead it is by another Iowan writer Carol Gorman. The Nancy Clue Mystery books are an alternate series written by Mabel Maney featuring a lesbian version of Nancy Drew. The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, The Nancy drew Scrapbook, and the Nancy Drew Anthology are all scholarly works looking at the impact Nancy Drew has had on the world.