Bogle's papers document his career with Vanguard and Wellington Management Company, and his involvement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and include his speeches and correspondence, reports, memoranda, and clippings.

About half of the papers are composed of Bogle's speech and correspondence files. The majority of Bogle's speeches were delivered while he was at Vanguard, but also include some earlier speeches while he was employed by Wellington, and were presented at meetings of professional organization, universities and business classes, and to Vanguard employees. In the speeches, Bogle discussed mutual funds, investing strategies, the success of Vanguard, critiques of the mutual fund industry, the responsibilities of companies to their investors, and capitalism. Bogle's correspondence is largely with colleagues in the investment and financial industries or investors and discusses mutual funds, investing, and Vanguard. The letters include deliberations on the ideas presented in Bogle's writings and the writings of others, letters from satisfied investors, congratulatory letters from colleagues as Bogle reached milestones in his career, and invitations to events. The correspondence also includes letters from employees of Vanguard about their ideas and concerns for the company, and with fund directors on managing the funds.

The remaining papers include materials pertaining to the Security and Exchange Commission and to Bogle's career at Vanguard and Wellington. The Security and Exchange Commission materials include papers pertaining to rulings by the SEC about Vanguard and reports and correspondence submitted by Bogle and Vanguard to the SEC leadership with their opinions on the mutual fund industry. The main subjects include advertising, the independence of auditors, and the responsibilities of companies to investors. The papers related to Bogle's career at Vanguard include reports on the funds' performances and objectives, articles on indexing and Vanguard's first index fund, and organizational materials on Vanguard such as strategic planning documents, press releases, SEC hearings, and a manual for the board of directors. The papers related to Bogle's career at Wellington include his articles on mutual funds and reports to employees, clippings on Wellington and the investment industry, and reports, meeting minutes, and memoranda on the restructuring of Wellington in 1974 that resulted in the formation of Vanguard.