The collection consists of published works and writings, including drafts, articles and reprints, drafts for "Halls of the Ancestors", field notes and research, lectures, papers presented and miscellaneous reports as well as correspondence and reports from his travels.

The Theodore Richards Conant Collection documents the life and film making career of Theodore Richards Conant, dating from 1949 to 2010, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1953 to 2000. The focus of the materials is on the Korean War, Korean culture and society. Materials in the collection consist of his personal papers and a substantial amount of audiovisual materials related to the documentary films created and/or collected by him during his career. The personal papers consist of clippings, ephemera, correspondence, scenarios, notes, catalogs, journals and other unique items. The photographs in the collection document Korea's political and cultural aspect, as well as Conant's work in Korea as a film producer while working in the UN Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA). The audiovisual materials are the documentaries directed and filmed by Conant, related to the Korean War, Korean society and culture.

This collection of records document the professional and personal life of Wm. Theodore de Bary (1919-2017), the renowned scholar, educator, and university administrator who studied and served over decades at Columbia University. Types of files in this collection range from administrative files, correspondences, manuscripts, references, photographs, and audio-visual materials. The available materials showcase the different roles that de Bary had held in researching and scholarship-building, teaching, and administering.