The collection consists primarily of correspondence and manuscripts. There are letters from Korneĭ Chukovskiĭ, Mikhail Karpovich, Andre Mazon, Vladimir Nabokov, and Evgeniĭ Zami︠a︡tin. There is also one item each from Sergeĭ Esenin, Pavel Mili︠u︡kov, Ivan Pavlov, and Nikolaĭ Roerich. Manuscripts include photocopies of poems by Korneĭ Chukovskiĭ, Sergeĭ Esenin, and Boris Pasternak. There are subject files on Dostoevskiĭ, Turgenev, Soviet education, and Slavic studies in the United Studies, and a photograph of Isaak Babel ́with his daughter.

The papers consist of correspondence, manuscripts, documents, and printed materials. Correspondence includes 82 letters from Maksim Kovalevskiĭ to the mathematician Sofii︠a︡ Kovalevskai︠a︡; 69 letters from Petr Lavrov to Kovalevskiĭ; and letters to Kovalevskiĭ from Anton Chekhov (typed copies), Nikolaĭ Mikhaĭlovskiĭ, Pavel Mili︠u︡kov, Petr Struve, and Ivan Turgenev (typed copy). Manuscripts consist of Kovalevskiĭ's handwritten memoirs, with a typed copy and some printed excerpts. Documents consist of Kovalevskiĭ's diplomas from the University of Berlin (1873), the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences (1899), and the Deputazione Veneta di Storia Patria (1901).