I opened the access panel that is near the floor, just behind the driver's seat on a 65 Econoline van, and found it stuffed with fluffy white stuff... it looks a lot like blown-in attic insulation.

Is this supposed to be there?

I found the same kind of material between inner and outer rocker panels on a 1970 Cougar, and a bunch of Cougar guys said they had never seen it before, and it must be the work of rodents.

Seeing it in a similar place on a different vehicle makes me think maybe it's supposed to be there.

It looks like it would trap moisture and promote rust. Is it just sound deadening material?

 

I'd be betting it is the stuffing from your seat or from the padded insulation/sound deadner from above the headliner or from the front wall. Mice like to use it for bedding. It could also be from some stuffed chairs that you had in the garage and the mice moved it there to build a nest. I've had that happen to me a few times before. Somehow they managed to pull the stuffing out of a patio deck chair and build a nest in behind the shroud on my garden tractor.

 

id be willing to bet that its from rodents. critters will find seat foam and other fluffy items and haul it into cramped places to make their nests.
ive seen them in some pretty interesting places; headliners being up there on the strange level.

 

There should be nothing behind that access panel.