The collection was originally housed in several filing cabinets in and near Miwa Kai's office space in Kent Hall, which she shared with Wm. Theodore de Bary. Kai kept well-organized files, and most of her original file names have been retained. In addition to the papers she collected and created through the course of her work and personal life, she also inherited papers created by Howard P. Linton and Ryusaku Tsunoda, which she incorporated into her own files and enhanced with supplementary material and her own hand-written notes.

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).

Marable was a leading figure in African-American studies as well as a historian, social theorist, and political activist. The collection includes appointment books, biographical information, budgets, clippings, correspondence, drafts, lecture notes, manuscripts, photographs, proposals, reports, speeches, syllabi, and teaching materials.

Established in 1965 by Columbia University, the Double Discovery Center (DDC) provides educational programs and services to low income and first generation college-bound junior high and high school students in New York City. The DDC is one of the oldest Upward Bound programs in the United States. The collection contains the records of the DDC from 1965 to 2005, including student files and materials documenting the DDC's primary programs, Upward Bound and Talent Search.

The Group for Contemporary Music records document the function of an American chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music, dating from 1961 to 2012. The records consist of correspondence, photographs, programs, memoranda, schedules, meeting notes, clippings, contracts, bills, financial records, fund raising and grant applications, and so on.

Correspondence, manuscripts, research files, teaching materials, memoranda, etc.

The Rick Shur Papers document the life and work of New York City video artist, gay activist, English as a Second Language teacher, and cultural critic Rick Shur (1953-2016). As "Rick X," he hosted The Closet Case Show, a popular Manhattan cable access TV show featuring safer sex gay "edurotica" along with commentary on culture and politics. Shur attended Columbia College (1971-1975) and Teacher's College (1977-1979), and led the Gay Alumni of Columbia organization through the 1980s.

The David Lloyd collection on Lao She consists of records relating to the publications and translations of Lao She's work during and after his stay in New York, dating from 1946 to 1957. Materials in the collection include correspondence, accounts, manuscripts, and a portrait of Lao She.

The Andrew Sarris Papers are comprised of correspondence, drafts and manuscripts, clippings, printed ephemera, periodicals, monographs, photographs, and audio recordings related to the career and personal life of renowned film critic Andrew Sarris. The materials span several decades, from the inception of his career as a film critic and theorist in the mid-1950s to the last years of his long tenure at The Village Voice in the late 1980s..

Eric R. Kandel is a neuroscientist and the recipient of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "discoveries concerning signal transduction in the nervous system." The papers include awards files, clippings, correspondence, grant files, lectures, photographs, publications, reprints, syllabi, videotapes, and dissertations written by Kandel's students.