The papers, which primarily concern Shmelev, consist of correspondence, manuscripts, photographs, and printed materials. The correspondence includes photocopies of letters from Petr Struve to Ivan Shmelev, and of letters from Shmelev to one Aleksandr Ivanovich. Manuscripts consist of Kutyrina's memoirs and essays about Shmelev; these draw heavily on correspondence of Shmelev, Ivan Bunin, Konstantin Balḿont, and Thomas Mann. Also included are Kutyrina's memoirs about the October 1917 Revolution in Moscow. Printed materials consist of books by Kutyrina's husband, the writer Ivan Novgorod-Severskiĭ.

The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, subject files, photographs and printed materials, primarily booklets and clippings. The correspondents include Ivan and Vera Bunin, Mark Slonim and Petr Struve. Also included are photocopies of letters by Ivan A. Goncharov. By far the largest part of the collection is in the form of memoirs written by Valeriĭ P. Semenov-Ti︠a︡nʹ-Shanskiĭ, in which he dwells in detail on his ancestors, on the social and political life in Russian during the second half of the 19th century and on his public life in the emigration. The subject files deal primarily with Russian emigre organizations in Finland.