Papers consist of manuscripts and printed materials. Manuscripts include a typescript memoir by Gagarin about Simferopol in 1917-18, two brief essays by Gagarin on the rivers Neva and Volga, and a typed copy of a letter from a soldier in World War I to a nurse. Printed materials include scattered issues of and clippings from "Russkoe Slovo" one issue of "Sei︠a︡teĺ" two issues of "Chasovoĭ" three issues of "Russkiĭ Invalid" and twenty-one issues of "Osvedomitel ́Leĭb-Egereĭ" and a copy of "Epizody proshlogo. Rasskazy iz zhizni avtora i izbrannye stikhotvorenii︠a︡" (Buenos Aires, 1972), a collection of poems and brief memoiristic essays, manuscripts of some which are among Gagarin's papers.

The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, clippings, books and periodicals. There are two letters from Aleksandr Glazunov and one each from Aleksandr Grechaninov and Nikolaĭ Metner. The manuscripts deal with both cultural affairs and the Russian Revolution. Among the cultural topics are essays on music, Isadora Duncan, Maksim Gorḱiĭ and literary affairs. There are articles about general aspects of the Revolution and about such individuals as Lenin, Stalin, Chicherin, Dzerzhinskiĭ and Kamenev. Many of the articles are memoiristic in nature, particularly those about life in Moscow and in the provinces during the Revolution, Dzerzhinskiĭ and Kamenev. There are clippings of articles written by Sabaneev and a number of books and periodicals either written by Sabaneev or containing articles by him.