The collection provides substantial information on Cope's working years, but contains scanty material on his early years. The Elmer F. Cope Papers contain information on Cope's childhood, schooling, and career. His high-school and college educational experiences (1919-1930) are documented in boxes 1 to 5.

The emphasis on his years (1929- 1930) at Brookwood Labor College and his association with A.J. Muste. Material covering period from 1929-1934, in boxes 6 to 11, contains correspondence and newspaper clippings on such labor-related subjects as the Empire Steel Corporation strike of 1931, Father James R. Cox's "Jobless March" in 1932, and the Steel Strike in Warren, Ohio of 1932.