With materials ranging in date from 1940 to 1973, the Stella Maris House collection consists of printed material, correspondence, and administrative, financial, and legal records created and collected by the Portland, Oregon-based social justice group during the course of its work. The collection demonstrates the local evolution of social issues key to the history of the United States during the 1960s. Over a third of the collection's content is dedicated to Oregon's migrant labor rights movement, and it also features records documenting the area's civil rights movement, urban renewal projects, interstate highway infrastructure, and social welfare programs initiated by the Economic Opportunity Act.

The bulk of the collection consists of printed material created by local and national organizations between 1960 and 1972, then collected by the Stella Maris House. This portion of the collection includes programs, reports, studies, surveys, correspondence, brochures, and flyers generated by civil rights, migrant rights, and peace movement groups. Items of note include the Albina Neighborhood Improvement Project's plans for urban redevelopment (Series 2), an African-American employment survey conducted by the Metropolitan Interfaith Commission on Race (Series 5), and records documenting the Housing Authority of Portland (Series 9). The collection also features printed material created by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (Series 5), the Valley Migrant League (Series 10), and the United Farm Workers (Series 10). Newspaper clippings that document events important to social justice movements also constitute a substantial part of the collection.

A small but significant portion of the collection was created by the staff members of the Stella Maris House; this includes notes by staff documenting the meetings of local groups. These meeting notes often provide candid insights into the workings of area groups. Stella Maris House staff members also contributed group and program histories to the collection.