The papers include correspondence, manuscripts, and printed materials. Correspondence consists of letters from a number of important cultural figures in the emigration, including: Ivan Bunin, Zinaida Guppius, Aleksandr Kuprin, Pavel Mili︠u︡kov, Alekseĭ Remizov, Nadezhda Teffi, and Alekseĭ Tolstoĭ; there are also one or two letters each from Konstantin Balḿont, Dmitriĭ Merezhkovskiĭ, Ili︠́a︡ Repin, Fedor Shali︠a︡pin, and Marina T︠S︡vetaeva. There are manuscripts of several works by Shpoli︠a︡nskiĭ, including his memoirs, "Poezd na tretém puti" (New York, 1954).

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.