The Floyd C. Covington papers document Covington's early life and education, his leadership of the Los Angeles Urban League during the 1930s and 1940s, the local advances in intergroup relations and equal opportunity initiatives that Covington directed at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, his strong relationships with both family and community, and his personal creativity in writing, music, and theater.

The parts of Covington's papers that relate to his work at the Los Angeles Urban League document important milestones for African American communities in Los Angeles. One of Covington's Urban League scrapbooks contains news clippings, photographs, and correspondence highlighting Covington's work at the Los Angeles Urban League -- with photographs demonstrating successful job placements for African Americans as Safeway clerks and managers, Pay'N Take Store employees, Helms Bakeries salesmen, Thrifty Drug Co. employees, manufacturers at Pacific Parachute Company aircraft plants, and others. This part of the collection also holds nine large Urban League posters that visualize racial inequalities in labor economics and job market opportunities -- as well as photographs documenting the "first transcontinental negro flight".

The series comprising records from Covington's employment at the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contain a significant amount of correspondence between Covington and notable public figures, including former Governor of California, Earl Warren and former mayor of Los Angeles, Fletcher Bowron. The HUD portion of the collection also holds material relating to a series of Loyalty Board hearings, which investigated claims against Covington's potential communist influences "for the purpose of establishing [Covington's] suitability for employment in the Federal service."

Other highlights of Covington's papers include his family mementos--such as Alma Covington's photograph albums and travel diaries; materials illustrating Covington's artistic creations, such as his poetry, personal narratives, and his violin; published articles that Covington authored; and a large scrapbook documenting a testimonial banquet held in 1971 following Covington's retirement titled, "Four Decades of Service - Honoring Floyd C. Covington." The testimonial scrapbook is accompanied by various awards, tributes, and official resolutions honoring Covington's contributions.