The Mary Ellen Moore papers date from 1933 to 1998 and measure 5 linear inches. The bulk of Moore's papers are writing assignments she completed as a high school and college student. Most of the remaining papers cover the period when she was a teacher at Iowa City High School in Iowa City, Iowa.

Correspondence (1968 to 1998) includes a Mother's Day letter written by Moore's daughter in 1997, nine months before Moore's death. There are also several cards Moore sent to colleague and friend Janie Yates following Moore's retirement in1981, and a photograph of Moore.

Teaching contracts (1957 to 1981) includes all the teaching contracts Moore had with the Iowa City Community School District, including the 1981 contract which was never fulfilled since Moore retired before the new school year commenced.

Iowa City High School Staff Newsletter (1985 to1989) contains a complete set of the staff newsletter edited by Janie Yates. Though Moore had already retired, Yates sent her copies of the newsletter, often including personal notes in the margins. Moore sometimes sent back comments or suggestions to Yates, and a few of these are also included in this folder.

High school writing assignments (1933-1935, and undated) The pieces in these two folders are handwritten by Moore. One of the undated assignments is titled "My Autobiography." There are also several book reports, personal essays, and editorials.

American women vs. frauleins (1952) This is an essay Moore seems to have written for herself, as she was not attending school at the time. The essay was written in responseto an article Moore read that attempted to explain why American men were divorcing their wives to marry German women or other foreign women. Moore takes issue with the enslavement ofwomen through marriage and the inadequacies of American men.

College Writing Assignments (1954-1964, undated) These four folders contain some of Moore's papers, notes and tests from her college days and reflect an emphasis on literature, history and psychology courses. Of particular interest today may be Moore's essay "The Eastern Question," in which she analyzes the Palestine/Israel conflict in 1956. This paper includes an excellent 1950s bibliography of sources pertaining to the Middle East and is found in folder two for Coe College. Folder 4 in the series contains unidentified material that apparently represents college assignments since they are all typed rather than handwritten.