The collection features the works of various Native American women playwrights, including Diane Glancy, Judy Lee Oliva, Hortensia and Elvira Colorado, and Victoria Kneubuhl and many others. Many of the plays found in the archive are unpublished and available only in manuscript form. Accompanying many of the manuscripts are materials relating to various productions of a particular play, such as programs, flyers and posters, audio/video recordings, and reviews/articles. NAWPA welcomes playwrights at any level of development and the archive is continuously growing and expanding as it adds new work and playwrights.

The archive serves as a repository for Spiderwoman Theatre and houses many original materials, including items pertaining to the legal dispute with Marvel Comics over the Spiderwoman name, histories and biographies of the group and its members, articles, and interviews. The archive also contains a large collection of photographs, including photographs of performances and appearances, as well as childhood and family photographs.

Spiderwoman Theatre is the country's longest running women's performance group, founded in 1976 by Lisa Mayo, Gloria Miguel, and Muriel Miguel, three Native American sisters of Rappahannock and Kuna heritage. The group has included various other performers throughout its history, most notably the Colorado sisters. Spiderwoman Theatre has held workshops and residencies as well as performances in venues and festivals all over the world. The group uses a specific working technique they call storyweaving, which is "creating designs and weaving stories with words and movement."

The collection houses the various plays written and performed by Spiderwoman Theatre including Women in Violence; The Lysistrata Numbah; Winnetou's Snake Oil Show From Wigwam City; Cabaret: An Evening of Disgusting Songs and Pukey Images; and Sun, Moon, and Feathers, as well as many others. Most of the Spiderwoman Theatre manuscripts found in the archive do not contain the plays in their entirety, but are rather a collection of bits and pieces scattered throughout the hand written partial scripts and working personal notebooks of the group. The collection also contains materials relating to the various plays, including promotional materials and posters, programs from different performances, production photographs, articles/reviews, and several taped performances.

Also found in the archive are materials relating to festivals and events in which Spiderwoman Theatre participated, such as Festival of Fools, Festival Mondial du Theatre, and Humora. These materials include programs, posters, and articles/reviews.

The collection also houses a few materials relating to individual works and performances by members of Spiderwoman Theatre, including items such as a program from a performance of Grandma and Grandpa directed by Muriel Miguel, and a flyer for a performance of Lizzie & Lisa, a one woman show by Lisa Mayo.

The rest of the collection is made up of materials relating directly to the formation and administration of the archive. Items in this portion of the collection include NAPWA advisory board notes and correspondence, forms, brochures, finance reports, mailing lists and website information. Materials pertaining to NAWPA sponsored events, including conferences, readings, and residencies are included as well. These items include planning documents, correspondence, financial information and receipts, travel materials and any other documents pertinent to the planning and execution of the event, as well as several audio and video tapes of performances and discussion sessions.

The archive concludes with a selection of additional resources, including publications and periodicals pertaining to Native American theater, book lists and catalogs for Native American literature resources, newsletters, brochures, and promotional materials from other Native American organizations, and materials from Native American men playwrights.