Most of the collection records Bush's activities after his retirement from the Carnegie Institution in 1955. Correspondence, working notes, experimental data, and patent information document his efforts as an inventor and his experiments with the free-piston engine, valve inventions for the heart and brain, and other projects. His continuing work with industry is documented in reports, correspondence, agreements, and notes about Merck & Company, AT&T, Stewart-Warner Corporation, and others. There is some correspondence from his years as chairman and honorary chairman of the MIT Corporation and from visiting committees on which he served. Bush's extensive connections in the scientific community and interests in scientific issues are revealed in correspondence with colleagues about subjects including relativity, hydrofoil boats, and medical instrumentation. Bush's active involvement in scientific and other organizations is documented in correspondence with groups including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Carnegie Institution. Copies of Bush's articles and speeches from later in his life reveal his interests in many subjects, including students and life at MIT, and his efforts to explain scientific progress and concerns. Also included are correspondence, notes, biographical material, and drafts and reviews of Bush's books Pieces of the Action and Science Is Not Enough.

Bush's official records form a separate collection in the Institute Archives: AC 333. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Office of the Vice President.