The materials in the Fife Folklore Conference, Workshop, and Honor Lecture collection document all facets of these events, which evolved over time. Initially, the Fife Folklore Conference was hosted by Utah State University's Folklore Program (1977-2007) and the Fife Folklore Archives (1977-2001). In 2005, the event was structured as a workshop rather than a full conference. Beginning in 2008, the event formally transitioned into the Fife Folklore Workshop, maintaining aspects of the original conference in a more focused format until 2015. Since 2016, the event has existed solely as the Fife Honor Lecture, a continuation of the honorary lecture series that was part of the conference in most years.

All physical materials are housed in acid-free archival boxes and folders in the Fife Folklore Archives, Special Collections and Archives, USU Libraries. Class lists may include names of students who withdrew from the course. The collection is processed to the item level.

The collection is arranged chronologically, with Box One containing historical information, including documentation of an earlier folklore conference hosted at USU in 1967 by Austin Fife. Boxes Two onward are organized by year and grouped according to the event’s evolving structure:

Fife Folklore Conference Records (1977-2007) (including a one-time workshop in 2005) Fife Folklore Workshop Records (2008-2015) Fife Honor Lecture Records (1981-2025) (noting that from 2016 onward, it existed only as a lecture) Within each year, materials are divided into record groups and further sorted into folders. Record groups are only created when relevant items exist for a given year. Some record groups contain multiple folders, while others may be absent for certain years. For example, there are no graduate interns in 1977, so there is no record group/folder for interns in the 1977 box. However, the 1977 records include two folders for "Reference/Media," one for "Black and White Photographs," and one for "Slides."

For consistency, full names are used throughout the register. For instance, founding conference director William A. "Bert" Wilson is always noted as William A., even if individual items (such as letters) refer to him as Bert.