The Chinese oral history project collection (中國口述歷史項目檔案) provides a wealth of information on the development of the project and its interviews with eminent Chinese political figures abroad in the United States and Hong Kong from 1958 to 1980s. The highlights of the collection consist of the administrative subject files, correspondence, interview photographs and reports, transcript drafts, collected autobiographies and manuscripts, audio recordings, and card files of names mentioned in the transcripts.

The Collection of China's spring 1989 democracy movement (六四前后中国民主运动资料汇集) documents the legacy of the democracy movement in China during 1989 as well as events leading up to the Tiananmen Square Incident and its aftermath, dating from 1988 to 1997, and with the bulk of the materials dating from 1989 to 1990. The collection holds the originals and the photocopies of over 300 ephemeral posters, leaflet/handbills, newsletters, open letters, and petitions created and distributed in 1989, including those issued by the Peking Workers Autonomous Association (北京工人自治联合会), student groups from various universities, the "Hunger Strike Newsletter" and other unofficial news bulletins, intellectuals' petitions to the government, cartoons, and poetry. The collection also comprises over 200 photographs depicting demonstration banners, big character posters, petitions and letters to the leaders. The collection also contains 15 eye-witness reports by Asians and Westerners, reports of human rights organizations, as well as books, miscellaneous news magazine articles and newspaper clippings. Related materials in the collection also include Spring 1989 issues of the banned intellectuals' journal "Eastern Record"; 147 slides of work shown at the Peking National Gallery's avant-garde exhibition; and a video tape of interviews with artists and performance art at the February 5, 1989 opening of that exhibition. Other items are several VHS, audiocassettes, floppy disks, fragments of wall posters, a T-shirt, and commemorative envelopes. A large fabric banner prepared by Chinese students at the University of Michigan which was sent to Peking where it was displayed at Tiananmen Square in May 1989 and later returned to the U.S., is also included in the collection.

Douglas Putnam Haskellan (1899-1979) was an American writer, architecture critic and magazine editor. This collection contains correspondence, memos, articles, speeches, lectures, transcripts, clippings, notes, printed matter, photographs, audiotapes, and memorabilia mainly relating to Douglas Haskell's editorship at Architectural Forum and his professional activities. The collection includes items dating from 1866 to 1979, with the majority of materials dating from the period of 1949 to 1964.

Gordon Bunshaft (1909-1990) was an American architect who, as a partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, had a significant impact on large-scale corporate architecture. His projects include such significant urban office towers as the Lever House in midtown Manhattan, as well as modern office campuses set in natural landscapes, including such examples as the American Can Company in Greenwich, Connecticut or the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company headquarters in Bloomfield, Connecticut. Additionally, his interest in art caused him to actively integrate work by well-known modern artists into the public plazas and interiors of SOM's projects. The professional aspects of this collection can be found in clippings, project photography, oral history records, and publications, however, the majority of the collection is personal and reflects the life of Gordon and his wife Nina Bunshaft. Through correspondence, snapshots, objects, and personal papers the collection focuses on the Bunshafts' friends, their travels, and their impressive art collection of both modern and ancient sculptures and paintings.

Personal and professional papers of comics artist Howard Cruse (1944-2019). Cruse was author of the graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby (1995), the comic strips Wendel (1983-1989) and Barefootz (1971-1979), and founding editor of the anthology Gay Comix (1980-1991).

The collection documents the scholarship and writing of John Eugene Unterecker, a poet, biographer of the poet Hart Crane, and professor of English. The majority of the collection is composed of correspondence and manuscripts. Materials date from 1961 to 1987.

Judith Crist (1922-2012), was a film critic, journalist, and long-time adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism (1958-2012). Her papers include clippings, correspondence, interviews, mementos, notes, photographs, review files, telephone logs, and audiovisual materials.

The Richard Brick and Geri Ashur collection consists of materials related to film productions created and collected by Richard Brick and Geri Ashur, dating from 1968 to 2014. The materials document the career of Richard Brick as a filming professor, producer, and the first commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB). The collection also includes materials related to films by Geri Ashur. The bulk of the collection focuses on the motion picture films and production files of the films Richard Brick and Geri Ashur produced, as well as the administrative records that document Richard Brick's contribution to the filming industry in New York during his tenure as the commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB).

The Theodore Richards Conant Collection documents the life and film making career of Theodore Richards Conant, dating from 1949 to 2010, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1953 to 2000. The focus of the materials is on the Korean War, Korean culture and society. Materials in the collection consist of his personal papers and a substantial amount of audiovisual materials related to the documentary films created and/or collected by him during his career. The personal papers consist of clippings, ephemera, correspondence, scenarios, notes, catalogs, journals and other unique items. The photographs in the collection document Korea's political and cultural aspect, as well as Conant's work in Korea as a film producer while working in the UN Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA). The audiovisual materials are the documentaries directed and filmed by Conant, related to the Korean War, Korean society and culture.

Ulysses Kay (1917-1995) was a noted twentieth-century American composer. The collection includes audio reels, biographical materials, correspondence, diaries, phonograph records, photographs, programs, and scores.