The papers of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller primarily consist of correspondence, including personal correspondence to family and relatives, biographical materials; art collection files, and files pertaining to her philanthropic activities.

The collection contains the office files of Bernard Berelson who served as Director of the Behavioral Sciences Division at the Ford Foundation from 1951-1957 as well as materials related to programs that extended beyond Berelson's time at the Foundation. Materials within the collection include correspondence, reports, notes, and data tables that analyze the behavioral sciences as an academic discipline. There are also grant proposals, fellowship information, and notes and correspondence regarding the university presses program, a program that allocated $1,725,000 to 30 university presses over a period of five years to increase book publication in the humanities and social sciences.

Records of the director of opposition research during Rockefeller's 1964 and 1968 presidential campaigns. Documents, statements, and policy positions of Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, and other prospective opponents.

The papers focus on the years after World War II and the reconstruction of the Peking Union Medical College, and include reports and correspondence by Loucks from China Medical Board, Inc. sponsored trips to the Far East, 1951-1964. The countries surveyed include: Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Siam (Thailand), Burma, Ceylon, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Korea, Vietnam, and the Trust Territory. The reports include information not only about the status of medical education, but also about the social and political climate of each country.

Important subjects in this collection are Argentina - Instituto de Bacteriologia, Buenos Aires; Argentina - nursing school, Rosario; Argentina - political situation, especially as it affected universities; Chile - Quinta Normal Health Center; disease control - malaria, especially in the Lurin Valley, Peru; disease control - yellow fever, especially in Bolivia and Peru; Ecuador - National Institute of Hygiene, Guayaquil; epidemiology - general; epidemiology - malaria; epidemiology - yellow fever; insecticides - Paris green, DDT and others; Peru - Ica Health Center; public health - administration; public health - nursing; Russia - general commentary after two trips; and South America - life and customs, general commentary.

This series documents portions of Nelson A. Rockefeller's public and private activities between 1968 and 1974. These records were created and maintained by members of Rockefeller's staff at his office at 22 West 55th Street, New York, also called the New York Office. Rockefeller was one of the first New York governors to maintain a permanent office in New York City. In general, Rockefeller was in Albany only while the Legislature was in session or for special occasions. The management of his public duties was undertaken largely at 55th Street. The office was paid for privately by Rockefeller, but many of the staff were public employees. When he resigned as governor, on December 20, 1973, some of the staff became Rockefeller's personal employees. Some of them went on the federal payroll and moved to Washington, DC, when Rockefeller became Vice President of the United States on December 19, 1974.

This small series contains a portion of the files of N. Lee Cook, who served as a Program Assistant for Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. These files are specifically related to Affirmative Action Programs. The majority of the files contain significant documentation of the Affirmative Action Program of Greater Buffalo (BAAP) and the work undertaken by that organization in 1970 and 1971. Primarily, these files deal with construction issues and equal employment opportunities, as well as affirmative action concerns on construction sites around New York State.

In her role as Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller's executive assistant, Ann Whitman maintained a large number of his office files. This series primarily covers the time period surrounding the 1968 Presidential election, when Governor Rockefeller sought the Republican party's presidential nomination. A significant portion of the material deals with the deepening conflict in Vietnam.

This is an incomplete portion of Governor Rockefeller's Appointments Office correspondence, dating from 1958 to 1970. Only three boxes of alphabetical correspondence are represented, from C through L. There is no record or indication of what happened to the rest of the alphabetical run. The final box of the series is a box of miscellaneous subject files, dating from 1967 to 1970. Alphabetically arranged by topic, this portion of the series is also incomplete. The material contained withing these files may be duplicated within the official gubernatorial record, maintained on microfilm at both the New York State Archives and the Rockefeller Archive Center.

This series contains a portion of the office files of Arthur Massolo, who served in the Appointments Office during Nelson A. Rockefeller's third gubernatorial term. This incomplete selection of papers is composed entirely of correspondence with individuals seeking employment in the Rockefeller administration. As Assistant Appointments Officer to the Governor, Massolo forwarded the correspondence to the appropriate department. Massolo often included cover memoranda with recommendations on the individuals to the directors, commissioners, or secretaries of the many New York State departments.