The collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, memoirs, diaries, notes, subject files, documents, photographs, and printed materials. Most of the material in the collection concerns Nikolaev's tenure as military attachʹe at the Russian embassy in Washington. Cataloged correspondents include Mikhail T. Florinsky and Geroid T. Robinson. There is a typescript by Vasiliĭ O. Kli︠u︡chevskiĭ, "Kratkoe posobie po russkoĭ istorii." Among the correspondence are cablegrams and official communications to the Russian embassy during World War I and the revolutionary period. Manuscripts, mostly by Nikolaev, concern contemporary and historical military topics. Diaries and memoirs deal with Nikolaev's travels to Europe during World War I and his activities as military attachʹe. Among orders granted to Nikolaev is the "Order of the Sacred Treasure," signed and sealed by the Japanese Emperor Meiji (1911). Printed materials include many articles by Nikolaev.

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs, subject files, printed materials, and memorabilia of historian George Vernadsky (Georgii Vladimirovich Vernadskii; 1887-1973). Most of the collection consists of his personal and professional papers, circa 1918-1973. Sizable groups of materials also concern members of his family, especially his wife Nina (1884-1971); his father, scientist Vladimir I. Vernadskii (1863-1945); his mother Nataliia E. Vernadskaia (1860-1943); and his sister Nina V. Toll' (1898-circa 1976).