Minutes, correspondence, annual reports, press releases, financial records, photographs, memorabilia, audiovisual, digital and printed materials document the philanthropic activities and administration of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The collection is actively growing, primarily through regular document transfers from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Andrew Carnegie's biographical information and personal philanthropic activity can be found in Series VII. In addition, his pre-1911 gifts, most notably his donations for libraries and church organs, can be found on microfilm (Series II), in the Home Trust Company Records (VI.A), and Financial Record Books (I.C.1). Grant files (Series III.A), which comprise the bulk of the collection) provide information on projects and institutions founded, endowed or supported by the Corporation. The Special Initiatives series (Series IV) contains the records of task forces, commissions and councils, formed by the Corporation mostly during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to address specific issues. The Corporation's records include those of other Carnegie philanthropic organizations (Series VI), including the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Home Trust Company, both of which shared staff, officers, and office space with the Corporation for a period of time.

The collection documents the career and personal life of Turkish-American electronic music composer, record producer, journalist and cultural critic, photographer, and filmmaker İlhan Mimaroğlu (1926-2012). It includes materials from each of Mimaroğlu's professional interests and activities, the bulk of which date from the early 1950s until his death in 2012.

The Bob Fass Recordings and Papers contains materials created by Bob Fass, host of the late-night program Radio Unnameable on New York City's WBAI radio station. The collection primarily consists of audio recordings of Radio Unnameable and other radio programs hosted by Bob Fass between 1963 and 2011. A small number of video recordings, photographs, correspondence, printed ephemera, and motion picture films are also included in the collection.

The student strikes of this era, in particular that of 1968, represent the main focus of the collection, although other issues and many voices are expressed. The collection contains material authored by Columbia University administration, faculty, students, as well as non-affiliated organizations and individuals.

Correspondence, manuscripts, lectures, notes, diaries, notebooks, reports, financial records, blueprints, photographs, and printed materials of Y.C. James Yen and the IIRR concerned with the development, sharing, and financing innovative methods of teaching, improving agriculture, health and family planning, and education in impoverished villages. Among the cataloged correspondents are: Pearl Buck, William O. Douglas, Nelson Rockefeller, and DeWitt Clinton.

Musical scores, correspondence, sheet music, audio tapes of interviews with jazz musicians, and other materials from Tucker, jazz pianist and scholar.

The papers of Hubert Harrison, the brilliant and influential writer, orator, educator, critic, and political activist in Harlem during the early decades of the 20th century.

The papers consist of correspondence, diaries, journals, interviews, manuscripts, transcripts, and printed material.

This collection documents the personal and political life of Herbert H. Lehman, who served as lieutenant governor, governor, and senator of New York, and as director-general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

The Amiri Baraka Papers contains correspondence, writings, and the personal, political activism and teaching materials related to Amiri Baraka's career as a poet, writer, editor, activist, and teacher in the New York City Beat, Downtown, and Black Arts literary scenes from the 1960s through the 2000s. Included are manuscripts from Baraka's numerous books of poetry, non-fiction, fiction, plays, editorial work, and screenplays. The collection also features organizational and documentary materials relating to Baraka's university teaching and Newark, NJ-based Black radical activism, as well as audio/visual material, photographs, and printed material collected and created by Baraka.