The Bob Edwards papers cover a wide range of issues from a long and varied career. Much of the collection relates to Edwards parliamentary career and his involvement with the Chemical Workers Union and other trade unions. There is a box of material from Edward's years fighting for Republican Spain. This material includes letters from when he served alongside George Orwell with the POUM Brigade, press cuttings, articles and material from the Spanish Workers Defence Committee.
There is also a section on industrial common ownership, including minutes, newsletters and lecture notes on industrial democracy. There are files on foreign policy including colonial policy and the anti- apartheid movement. Another box contains miscellaneous subjects files, which cover a broad range of issues from atomic energy, housing, pollution, steel industry to multinational companies.
The papers also contain autobiographical files including a visit to the USSR in 1926 and the Lancashire Hunger march of 1934. There are papers covering his years on Liverpool City Council and the Stretford and Newport by-elections of 1939 and 1945. There is also a file on his wife May Edwards (1901-1970), the daughter of the Labour MP Elijah Sandham (1876-1944). She served as mayor of Chorley 1953-1954.