The Kathie Durbin papers primarily document her professional career as a journalist. Series 1, Personal papers, includes early collegiate essays, poetry, travel, travel essays, a memoir, and material concerning Durbin's departure from The Oregonian in 1994. Series 2, Newspaper and journal articles, contains copious correspondence to Durbin on some topics, but there is little or no supporting documentation for the articles in the series, although it probably includes almost every article Durbin wrote. Series 3, Topics, includes, in most cases, extensive background notes related to the articles. These articles are almost always duplicated in Series 2 (which includes many more articles), but here they include background material. Series 4, Books, includes correspondence with publishers and readers, drafts of the chapters, background notes, papers related to speaking engagements, reviews, and other material related to each of the three books. Finally, Series 5, Miscellaneous notes, includes two boxes of notebooks with handwritten notes by Durbin, as well as audiotapes. These were not associated with any articles or books when the Oregon Historical Society Research Library received them. In general, each notebook and tape has the name of the person being interviewed or of a conference attended by Durbin.