The papers of Charles A. Dewey contain manuscript material primarily relating to his career on the bench. The collection is described with item level indications, in the format of: Folder / Item Number(s) / Description.

The collection is comprised of correspondence and subject files providing a chronological view of the Iowa legal scene from the 1890s through the early 1950s. It includes more than thirty folders containing Judge Dewey's instructions to various juries. The U.S. District Court Instructions to Juries of Mr. Dewey's are probably unique and do not exist elsewhere. A lawsuit involving Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation is documented in great detail, with over twenty-five folders of records from court proceedings, appeals, and petitions to trial briefs and memoranda. There are copies of Judge Dewey's articles and speeches as well as biographical information. The correspondence files include letters from William F. Riley, John B. Sanborn, Seth Thomas, and Fred M. Vinson.

The primary significance of this collection lies in the correspondence it contains with prominent Iowa and national figures, such as Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Harry S. Truman, Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, Attorney General Tom C. Clark, Senators Guy M. Gillette and Bourke B. Hickenlooper, Congressman Eugene D. O'Sullivan, and editorial cartoonist Jay N. Darling.