The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, documents, a photograph, and printed material, primarily from the period 1941-1957. Included are letters from Ivan Bunin, Marc Chagall, Mikhail Karpovich, Vasiliĭ Maklakov, W. Somerset Maugham, Vladimir Nabokov, Ili︠́a︡ Repin, Edmund Wilson, Boris Zaĭt︠s︡ev and many others. Manuscripts of his works include "Istoki""Nachalo kont︠s︡a""Zhivi, kak khochesh"́, and "The Escape" (English translation of "Begstvo"), such shorter tales as "Noch ́v terminale""Povest ́o smerti", and "Ulḿskai︠a︡ noch"́, as well as numerous articles, book reviews and essays. There are financial records for "Novyĭ Zhurnal", which Aldanov helped found, and the clippings are mainly articles about Aldanov. There is one late photograph of Aldanov.

The papers consist of correspondence, manuscripts, documents, original art works, bibliographic notes and material on exhibitions. There are letters from Aleksandr Benois, Mikhail Chekhov, Fedor Komissarzhevskiĭ, Georgiĭ Lukomskiĭ, Nikolaĭ Medtner, Vladimir Nabokov and Aleksandra Tolstai︠a︡, and one letter each from Ivan Bunin, Mikhail Fokin, Tyrone Guthrie, Sok Hurok and Serge Kusevit︠s︡kiĭ. The manuscripts include essays by Dobuzhinskiĭ on such topics as the Mir Iskusstva group, Pushkin's illustrations, Aleksandr Blok, Kuzḿa Petrov-Vodkin and Josʹe-Maria Sert. There are original art works (pen and ink, goache, etc.) relating to his artistic and theatrical productions. Also included are photographs of Russian scenes, apparently from before World War I.