Most of the collection consists of letters to Golśteĭn; there are some as well to her second husband, Vladimir A. Gol'shtein. The materials reflect Gol'shtein ties to Russian liberalism and populism and also to both French and Russian art and literature. There are groups of cataloged letters from Renʹe Arcos (15), Mykhailo Drahomaniv (52), Andrʹe Fontainas (31), Renʹe Ghil (32), Viacheslav Ivanov (17), Petr Lavrov (49), Vladimir Vernadskii (20), and Maksimilian Voloshin (29). There are also items by Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Henri Martin Barzun, Henri Bergson, Ivan Bunin, Sergei Diagilev, Paul Fort, Vladislav Khodasevich, Aristide Maillol, and Odilon Redon. Manuscripts are chiefly by Golśhteĭn, and include her memoirs on Drahomaniv. There are also poems by Voloshin and by Konstantin Bal'mont. Subject files deal with such topics as the Russian famine of 1891-92 and the Russian Liberation Committee at the time of the Civil War. There is a copy of Gol'shtein's book, "Serf Life in Russia."

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.