The Robert Simonsen Photograph Collection contains autographed photographs divided into 4 series: U. S. Political, U. S. Military, U. S. Protectorates, and International Leaders. The collection is split fairly evenly between the United States and International photographs, with the majority of the U. S. photographs residing in the Political series. Many of the autographs include an inscription and/or an accompanying letter. Unidentified individuals are first within each section.
The United States Political series is divided into three subseries: States, Ambassadors, and Federal Agencies. The States are arranged alphabetically with the individuals sorted alphabetically by name under their political division: House of Representatives, Senate, and State Officials. This is followed by United States Ambassadors arranged alphabetically within various year ranges, and United States Federal Agencies sorted alphabetically by specific department then arranged alphabetically by name.
The United States Military series is divided into four subseries by branch: Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines. Within each branch the names are alphabetized under rank. Some ranks are entered multiple times under various year ranges.
The photographs in the United States Protectorates series are alphabetized under the specific place: Micronesia, Palau, Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Trust Territory of the Pacific, Guam, and Marshall Islands.
The International Leaders series is sorted alphabetically by country. Some countries have all the individuals sorted alphabetically within a single grouping, while other countries will further divide the photographs into political and military subgroups. For example, the photographs for Argentina are all grouped together, while Australia is broken into 14 subgroups.