This series consists of correspondence and other files maintained by Harold Edward Holt as Treasurer between December 1958 and January 1966.

The files fall into several categories

i)                    Parliamentary business files – relating to accommodation, questions on notice or without notice on Treasury matters, Richardson report on Parliamentary salaries and allowances

ii)                   Ministerial correspondence files – these files account for almost half the series and are arranged chronologically in half-monthly folders. They mainly contain office copies of replies to representations made by individuals, companies and other organisations directly to the Treasurer, or through another Minister or Member of Parliament. The correspondence is often substantial in content, and the replies may carry the signature block of either Holt or his Private Secretary at the time (eg K W Pearson, J R Short). The correspondence relates to a wide range of Treasury-related matters including income tax, sales tax on various commodities, subsidies, financial assistance, pensions, superannuation, international organisations, government and non-government bodies, public works, mining, salaries earned by overseas persons working in Australian industry, European Common Market, compensation

iii)                 Subject files – relating to various matters, including the economy, taxation, legislation, banking, overseas investment, trade, decimal currency, drought relief, mining, King Island shipping service, Royal Australian Mint, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association

iv)                 Press statements – maintained by year for 1963 and 1964, and in monthly folders for 1965

v)                  Miscellaneous files – including unfiled papers and reports on various subjects 

The files have either plain beige or Treasury Department file covers. The contents include letters (mainly office copies of outgoing correspondence), minutes, Cabinet submissions, reports, cables, press releases, speech notes, news clippings, pamphlets and other publications. Some of the documents are annotated; some are marked 'personal', or 'confidential', a few 'secret'. Multiple copies of documents occur in several files, particularly those including press statements.

The records were transferred to archival custody in three separate consignments between September 1967 and November 1968, and the single number system of control imposed subsequently. The series description was revised as part of the Prime Ministers Papers’ Project (May 2002).