This collection contains the personal papers of several members of the Oliven, Schall, and Meyer families. The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence among Oliven and Schall family members. The main correspondents are Susanne Schall’s father Fritz Oliven, her mother Leonie Oliven, her brother Klaus Oliven, and Klaus’ wife Seldi. Letters composed by each of these correspondents are filed in the same folder, and these letters are often addressed to several different persons, mainly other family members. Also included is the correspondence of Susanne’s husband Herbert Schall as well as correspondence between Susanne and her nieces, nephews, and other relatives. Some of the correspondence from Leonie Oliven is fragmentary and much of it is brittle.

Beyond the correspondence, other materials in the collection include biographical notes and poems written by or for Fritz Oliven, loose notes and autobiographical writings by Leonie Oliven related to her emigration from Germany, invitations and poems related to the wedding of Susanne and Herbert Schall, and genealogical materials on the Meyer family, a branch of the Oliven family. Included with the Meyer family materials are two short family history memoirs by two of the Meyer family members, Rebecca Steinthal and Flora Meyer. The miscellaneous folder includes balance sheets, some of which relates to taxes, loose notes on German history, and a drawing.