The Alison Hughes papers consists of personal and administrative records of Alison Hughes’ correspondence, speeches, memoranda, and memorabilia from her work within the Civil Rights Commission, the Arizona Women’s Commission, and the Tucson Women’s Commission both during and after her tenure, between the late 1960s to the late 2010s.

The Alison Hughes audiocassettes comprise seventy-nine audiocassette recordings of meetings, conferences, interviews and lectures, the bulk of which were recorded between 1972 and 1987. The recordings represent Hughes’s broad-reaching feminist activism at the local, state, national, and international levels. The series is divided into three sub-series: Subseries I: KHYT Radio Program recordings of "Close-Up with Alison Hughes"; Subseries II: Women's Rights Organization Conference, Meeting,and Public Appearance recordings; and Subseries III: Seminar and Training recordings. Cassettes are described at the item level, using the titles as given by the creator where possible, and arranged chronologically, and then alphabetically by title or subject.

Cassettes in the KHYT Radio Program recordings sub-series consist of interviews recorded on thirteen audiocassettes, conducted by Hughes for her program “Close Up with Alison Hughes” on Tucson radio station KHYT (1977-1981). Topics covered in the programs range from local arts programming to women's and civil rights issues.

The Women's Rights Organization Conference, Meeting, and Public Appearance recordings sub-series consist of fifty-four audiocassette recordings of conferences and meetings including: International Women's Year, Minority Women's Conference, International Year of the Woman, American Women on the Move, International Women’s Forum, Women in the Law Conference, gatherings of the Tucson Women’s Commission and Equal Rights Amendment events, and a 1976 meeting of the Eagle Forum, a socially conservative interest group founded in the 1970s by Phyllis Schlafly. Notable speakers include Bella Abzug, Liz Carpenter, and Jill Ruckleshaus, who were all political and women’s rights activists, as well as founders of the National Women’s Political Caucus; folksinger Joan Baez; Ann Isolde, researcher for visual artist Judy Chicago; feminist theologian Mary Daly; playwright Lillian Hellman; lesbian activist Del Martin; and Finnish politician Helvi Sipilä.

Subseries III: Seminar and Training recordings comprise recordings on 14 compact audiocassettes of seminars and trainings held on a variety of general financial topics, including grant funding, corporate giving, and Indian Health Services billing.