The Royal Lovell Garff papers (1914-1996) contain journals, correspondence, scrapbooks, convention materials, articles, speeches, notes, notebooks, certificates, financial materials, pamphlets, speech cards, booklets, magazine excerpts, books, and news clippings among other materials that Garff used during his career as a teacher and public speaker. The Garff materials have been divided into five sections.

Series 1 consists of Garff's personal materials, dating from 1919 to 1993. Among these are journals and materials from the LDS mission he served, professional and personal correspondence, yearbooks from LDS University, scrapbooks, articles and speeches that he wrote, and speech cards that he hand-wrote, typed, or attached textual excerpts. There are also his financial and family materials including his will and biographical information, mainly originating from articles and introductions that were written about him. The materials from the University of Utah (U of U) courses that Garff taught include class outlines, syllabi, handouts, attendance rolls, and assignments. There are also miscellaneous notes, poems, quotes, and thoughts that he used for writing speeches.

Series 2 consists of Garff's collected materials, dating from 1930 to 1989. These are materials that Garff collected while affiliated with various business organizations, universities, and other organizations where he mainly served as a motivational speaker. These include fliers, pamphlets, conference materials, and outlines among other materials from the American Cancer Society, NIBS, and various course materials from classes. Also included are materials for the LDS Church Mutual Improvement Association (MIA), rosters, and various worksheets. Garff spoke at many church meetings, and there are programs from those meetings. Also included in this section are programs from other events, playbills, convention and conference materials for which Garff spoke or was associated with, handbooks and manuals, and notebooks for various corporations.

Series 3 contains publications that Garff collected, 1909 to 1994. Among these are U of U commencement addresses, copies of the Earl Nightingale Program: "Our Changing World," various articles and speeches, pamphlets, booklets, fliers, newsletters, magazine excerpts, books, untitled textual excerpts, and news clippings. These materials are arranged alphabetically in chronological order. Many books were kept in the collection due to markings and notes that Garff made. The magazines were preserved by keeping the cover, sometimes the title page, and the pages on which Garff made annotations on. This part of the collection is somewhat eclectic, however, it shows how Garff used a variety of materials to get ideas from for his speeches.

Series 4 contains oversized materials, dating from 1948 to 1989. Among these are Garff's certificates he received for serving various organizations as a speaker, a homemade birthday card given to Garff when he turned eighty-five, various publications, and committee lists.

Series 5 is the December 2001 addendum to the collection, dating from 1922 to 1996. This section contains correspondence, many of which are letters between Garff and his wife, Maxine, journals from Garff's LDS mission; personal materials, among which are articles and speeches, certificates, U of U class records, an address book, business cards, financial materials and news clippings. Also included in this addendum are speech cards, notes, poems, quotes, thoughts, notebooks, magazine excerpts, books, articles and speeches, pamphlets, newsletters, news clippings, and miscellaneous items.