This collection contains material related to the game of checkers, also known as draughts, collected by an enthusiast and competitive player, Alfred C. Darrow, thoughout his life. The collection includes Darrow's personal papers as well as material he collected from other sources. The personal material includes awards, correspondence, checkers organization membership documents, notes and reference, photographs, presentations, and analyses of checkers strategies.

Collected materials include clippings, checkers tournament programs, correspondence checkers (play-by-mail) materials, checkers clubs' and organizations' documents, material from Darrow's time in the role of editor of the ACF Bulletin, published materials, and unpublished manuscripts. Materials from other checkers players and authors, including Ben Boland and Richard L. Fortman, are also represented in the collection.

The collection dates from 1808 to 2019, with the bulk of materials dating from 1960 to 2010. The materials are housed in 10 record cartons, 19 letter document boxes, 7 legal document boxes, and 7 oversize flat boxes. The contents have been arranged into eight series with Series I and Series VI further divided into two sub-series. For more information on series and sub-series, see each series' Scope and Content Notes.