The collection consists of the editorial and production archives of Vanguard Press: correspondence, manuscripts, contracts, memoranda, galley proofs, photographs, clippings, and printed materials. The correspondence and editorial files contain a wealth of detailed information about individual authors and the growth and development of the Press. Among the cataloged correspondents are: Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Stephen Vincent Benét, William Rose Benét; Phyllis Bottome; Pierre Boulle; Jocelyn Brooke; Cyril Connolly; A.J. Cronin; Nigel Dennis; John Dewey; Max Eastman; James T. Farrell; Vardis Fisher; Richard Garnett; Theodor Seuss Geisel; Louis Golding; Paul Goodman; Horace Gregory; Geoffrey Grigson; Lillian Hellman; William Heyen; Harold L. Ickes; Christopher Isherwood; Alfred Kazin; Philip Lamantia; Sinclair Lewis; Emanuel Litvinoff; Dwight Macdonald; Archibald MacLeish; Marshall McLuhan; Thomas Mann; Edgar Lee Masters; H. L. Mencken; William Meredith; Joyce Carol Oates; Katherine Anne Porter; Barbara Pym; William Sansom; William Saroyan; Ramon J. Sender; Upton Sinclair; Rex Stout; Edith Sitwell; Paul Theroux; Lionel Trilling; Harry S. Trumam; Louis Untermeyer; Eudora Welty; Richard Wilbur; and Thornton Wilder. There are some manuscripts by Bellow; Bottome; Boulle; Farrell; Grigson; Litvinoff; MacDonald; Oates; John Cowper Powys; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; Patrick Tanner; William Targ; Theroux; and Sitwell.

The Sol Stein Papers chart the literary life of author, editor and publisher, Sol Stein, who in addition to his own career as novelist and playwright, founded the publishing house Stein and Day. His papers contain correspondence with important literary figures; multiple drafts of his plays, novels and non-fiction writing; and correspondence which closely documents the editing process. The papers also include some material relating to Stein's political activities as Executive Director of The American Committee for Cultural Freedom and as Ideological Analyst and writer for The Voice of America.

Letters, manuscripts, notes, proofs, course materials, and printed matter. The letters are chiefly from his colleagues at Columbia University, other literary critics, a few publishers and, single letters from several American authors. There is a series of lengthy letters from Chase to his wife, Frances Marie Walker Chase, dated 1938 and 1949-1961; letters from his colleagues and friends to Mrs Chase, 1962-1967, mostly letters of condolence on Chase's death, and a few related to his publications. The manuscripts and proofs of his writings include typescripts on Herman Melville and Walt Whitman. Also included are notes on American and Englisgh literature, course materials for his Columbia courses, articles and reviews by him, articles, reprints and reviews by others, most of which are inscribed to Chase, and three dozen volumes of his own works, including foreign translations. In addition, there are 250 volumes from Chase's library, many with his annotations and marginalia. 1984 ADDITION: Letters from friends dealing with the contemporary literary world between 1948-1955. The main body of material is from Robert Willard Flint, a sometime poet and critic, who was a graduate student at Columbia in 1946 and later worked at the Harvard Library. 1986 ADDITION: Letters to Richard Chase from colleagues in the literary world, 1948-1971, with 2 letters to his wife after his death. 114 of these letters are from Robert Flint, 25 from Lionel Trilling, and 3 letters from Robert Penn Warren

The papers document the life and work of author, Columbia University professor, and literary critic, Quentin Anderson. This collection contains his personal and professional correspondence, his writings and research notes, documentation of his professional involvements, and some personal materials.

Personal, academic, and legal correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs, and memoranda. Among the legal files, there is particular emphasis on labor and welfare law. The files also contain materials about his judicial appointment, the American Law Institute, the Columbia University School of Law, and the Project on International Procedure. Among the major correspondents are: James A. Farley, Arthur J. Goldberg, Philip C. Jessup, Robert F. Kennedy, Harold R. Medina, James A. Pike, and Lionel Trilling

Correspondence, manuscripts, notes, word lists, documents, photographs, clippings, periodicals, and other printed materials concerning his writings, translations, and criticism. Most of the manuscript drafts and notes are for his critical and analytical studies of Finnegans Wake and of other works by James Joyce.

Correspondence, manuscripts, and books of Melville H. Cane. Among the correspondents are Van Wyck Brooks, Carl Jung, Lewis Mumford, William Saroyan, Upton Sinclair, Felix Frankfurter, Jessamyn West, and W.H.Auden. Included is a scrapbook of newspaper articles by Cane, written chiefly for the "New York Evening Post". He served as the Columbia University correspondent during 1901 and 1902, when he was studying for his degree at the School of Law

Manuscripts, recordings and administrative files related to the Lionel Trilling Seminars which were established as a memorial to Professor Lionel Trilling in 1976.

The Lionel Trilling Papers document the life of author, professor, and literary critic, Lionel Trilling. This collection contains his writings, extensive correspondence with other New York intellectuals, personal documents, and other records concerning his professional activities.

Personal and Professional papers of writer and magazine editor Leo Lerman. The papers include correspondence, professional papers, topical files, research files, and photographs.