The bulk of the collection comprises wine labels and ephemera created by California winemakers and wine companies in the 1930s, 1940s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The core of the collection consists of wine labels printed by Lehmann Printing and Lithographing Co. in San Francisco in the 1930s and '40s. (Most undated labels fall into this group, although some may date from the nineteenth century). These materials were supplemented in the 1970s and '80s by Bruce L. Johnson, Curator of the Kemble Collection on Western Printing & Publishing, who solicited wine labels and other ephemera from extant California wineries. In addition to wine labels, the collection contains pamphlets, brochures, newsletters, newspaper and magazine articles, press packets, business cards, advertising matter, correspondence related to the collection, and winery histories, collected by Mr. Johnson in the 1970s and '80s; and a small number of labels for beer and other liquor manufacturers in California, mostly dating from the 1930s and '40s.

Prominently represented in the collection are the printing firms Lehmann Printing and Lithographing Co., San Francisco (1930s-1940s); and Herdell Printing & Lithographers, St. Helena (1970s-1980s). Numerous other California designers and printing firms are also represented.