Arranged chronologically.

It consists of both incoming and outgoing letters, many of which were written by Teresa Turner. Frequent correspondents include Peter Onu, Assistant Secretary General of the OAU; Theo Ben Gurirab of SWAPO; Nouri Razzak Hussain, Secretary General of AAPSO; Gregory Denichen of the UN Council for Namibia; and Sally Swing Shelly of the UN Department of Public Information. Topics covered, among others, include: Israeli-South African relations and the importance of oil in any war effort; an IOWG project proposal to carry out and publicize research on shipments to Namibian ports; application for NGO status; oil and transport workers efforts to implement sanctions; and cooperation in researching tanker movements. In some instances, where letters refer directly to a subject group or conference, they have been filed with those materials.

Contains five subseries: Proposals (1979-1983), Articles (1980-1985), Papers (1977-1985), Publications (1981-1985), and UN Testimony (1981-1986). Each subseries is chronologically organized.

Each subseries gives a sense of the development of the organization and the subjects with which it was most concerned. These include the implementation of an effective oil embargo against South Africa, control of the oil market and the UN oil embargo, tanker tracking, oil transport workers, and Namibian independence.

Arranged chronologically and divided into files by conference title.

It is not clear whether the IOWG presented papers in every case, but the series gives a good indication of the kinds of contacts the IOWG made, and provides information about the broad range of topics that were of interest to IOWG members. While some conference materials may seem obscure, they can be very revealing about the complexity surrounding the issue of the oil embargo.

Divided into three subseries.

Subseries A (1983-1985), consists of documents derived from and pertaining to the Center Against Apartheid (CAA), with which IOWG worked closely. These documents focus primarily on sanctions against South Africa. Subseries B (1960-1985), consists of general documents and, like CAA, is arranged alphabetically by subject. Subseries C, NGOs and Missions (1979-1986), is made up of documents issued by non-governmental organizations and permanent missions to the UN.

Contains two subseries.

Shipping Reference Materials (1979-1986), include general shipping information such as open registry, oil exporting countries and shipping, and port entry. It also includes documents from Lloyd's Maritime Information Service, Petrola, and the Shipping Research Bureau-most notably on secret oil deliveries to South Africa. Tanker Reference Materials (1957-1985), deal more specifically with topics such as tanker movements, flags of convenience, market trends in the tanker industry, world tanker fleet ownership, and a list of all tankers stopping in South African ports.

Divided into six subseries.

It includes some of the materials that the IOWG drew upon for its papers, testimony, and for general dissemination. Subseries A, General Reference (1975-1987), contains a wide variety of documents on such subjects as the IMF and loans to South Africa, the Kairos Document, oil reserves, sanctions legislation, and Namibian independence. It also includes materials such as the Freedom Charter, leaflets announcing events, and resource materials on South Africa. It is arranged alphabetically by subject. Subseries B, Non-IOWG Papers (1975-1986), arranged chronologically, covers a wide variety of topics, from transnational corporations to trade unions. Subseries C, D, and E, News Clips, Newsletters, and Journals and Magazines respectively (1966-1986), are arranged alphabetically by title, except for news clips which are generally left in order. Where the IOWG specified a heading, clips were so arranged (i.e., clips ostensibly used for "The Bulletin" were left together). Subseries F consists of miscellaneous documents.