The John R. Fischetti Collection dates from 1945 to 2003 in 4.96 cubic feet (12 boxes), with the bulk of the collection dating from 1945 to 1980. The collection strength lies in the editorial illustrations and concept sketchbooks as these illustrate Fischetti's creative process for publications like The Chicago Daily News, The Chicago Sun-Times, and Punch magazine. The collection also contains original drawings, photographs and other personal material of John R. Fischetti, story concept illustrations, and photo-mechanically reproduced drawings. A small amount of work by other artists is also in the collection, including: Pat Oliphant, Bill Mauldin, Jack Higgins, and Walt Scott.

Writing on his editorial cartoon sketchbooks in his autobiography, Fischetti stated "Before 1961 I used to doodle ideas on the backs of envelopes, scraps of paper and yellow copy paper... Since even half-formed ideas are invaluable, I decided to use layout pads for the gestating periods. By dating each page, it turned out to be a sort of log of historical and personal events." (Zinga, Zinga, Za!)