The materials in this collection document the rich history of the performing arts in San Diego from the late 1940s to 2001, as collected by the Entertainment Department at the San Diego Union. The editor of the Entertainment Department, Welton Jones, maintained these working files during his many years as a columnist for the San Diego Union and as an enthusiastic patron of the performing arts in San Diego. His Entertainment staff added many items to the collection, including photographs from the Photography Department of local venues, performers, and performances.

Series I: Office Records includes the correspondence of the Entertainment Department with local organizations and individuals involved in the performing arts scene in San Diego. Welton Jones' daily appointment diaries chronicle his activities as editor and show the range of performances he covered on his beat. Subject files for the Entertainment Department include clippings, press releases, and internal notes on a number of topics, organizations, and arts-related initiatives in the San Diego area.

Series II: Publicity, Programs, and Photographs is comprised of five subseries, each arranged further into regional sub-sub series. Folders in these series include theatre programs, press releases and publicity ephemera, and photographs of performances or sites (usually taken by the Photography Department of the San Diego Union). Subseries I: Theatre and Performing Organizations contains materials documenting numerous theatre venues or performing organizations in San Diego, and is the largest and strongest of the multiple subseries. The files in Subseries I document theatre history over a fifty year period in San Diego, and include materials on many obscure or defunct performing organizations in the area. Theatres throughout the nation and internationally are also represented in Subseries I. The strength of Subseries II: Music and Opera, lies in its coverage of the San Diego Civic Light Opera, San Diego Opera, and the San Diego Symphony. The last three subseries, Subseries 3: Ballet and Dance, Subseries 4: Performers and Actors, and Subseries 5: Art contain less robust documentation of the San Diego scenes.

Series III: California Arts Commission and Arts Council documents Jones' work on these organizations over a thirty-year period.