The papers of museum director Perry Townsend Rathbone measure 4.3 linear feet and date from 1929 to 1985. The papers document Rathbone's career as museum director of the City Art Museum of St. Louis and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and his later work with Christie's New York office. Found within the papers are biographical materials, correspondence with friends and colleagues, writings, professional and project files, printed materials, and photographs, mostly of exhibitions.

The papers of Los Angeles Abstract Classicist painter and educator Frederick Hammersley measure 34.75 linear feet and date from circa 1860-2009, bulk 1940-2009. The papers contain biographical materials, 32 diaries, family and professional correspondence, personal business and financial records, estate records, writings, graphic design projects, teaching files, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographs, and works of art.

The papers of New York museum director and independent curator Thomas M. Messer measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1949-2010. Material includes correspondence, a diary transcript, and printed material that reflect Messer's long career, primarily as director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Correspondence comprises the bulk of the collection and documents the relationships he built with artists, art historians, curators, and others colleagues. Notable correspondents include Francis Bacon, Will Barnet, Larry Bell, Alberto Burri, Pol Bury, Marc Chagall, Chryssa, Jean Dubuffet, Max Ernst, Dan Flavin, Helen Frankenthaler, Alberto Giacometti, Richard Hamilton, Jean Hélion, Grace Knowlton, Rosemarie Koczy, Jirí Kolár, Katharine Kuh, Agnes Martin, Henry Moore, George Rickey, Charles Simonds, Clyfford Still, Jack Tworkov, and many others.

Winifred Smeaton Thomas (1903-1987) was an anthropologist whose main focus was the Near and Middle East, particularly Iraq where she lived from 1932 to 1935. Her papers largely document her time in Iraq and include her work on the Field Museum Anthropological Expedition in 1934, writings about her time in Iraq, and her doctoral studies at University of Chicago. The collection includes writings and publications, correspondence, field diaries, photographs, passports, and notes from Thomas's time as a doctoral student and later as a professor.

The Griffith Family papers, which dates from 1907 to 1950 and measures 4.21 linear feet, documents the personal lives of three generations in the Griffith family: Sarah Thomas, Delaphine and Jacqueline Griffith. The papers are comprised of personal and professional correspondence, receipts, bills, newspaper clippings, photographs, record albums, and legal documents.

The papers of painter Howard Mehring measure 0.2 linear feet and date from circa 1931-1978. This small collection of documentation on Mehring's career includes graduation and birth certificates; letters to Mehring from his mother, dealers, lawyers and clients; and childhood photographs.

The records of the Fine Arts Federation of New York, a consortium of New York City arts and architecture organizations, measure 15.2 linear feet and date from 1895-2005, bulk 1935-2002. The Federation's activities on behalf of the interests of the constituent organizations and the greater community are documented through officers' files, correspondence, administrative records, scattered printed materials, and scrapbooks.

The collection, which dates from 1961 to 2004 and measures 11.16 linear feet, documents the career of artist, curator, and museum technician Edith T. Martin. The papers in the collection include education documents, professional correspondence, sketches, promotional material, news clippings, newsletters, catalogues/magazines from exhibits and arts organizations, and exhibit photographs and slides.

The papers of collagist and painter Janice Lowry measure 18.0 linear feet and date from 1957 to 2009. Lowry's career as an artist in Arizona and California is documented through biographical material, printed material, teaching files, and photographs. The bulk of the papers consist of six diaries; thirteen morning journals; 126 art journals which include both written text and artwork in the form of sketches, paintings, and collages; hand-made artist books; nine notebooks with sketches; and one sketchbook.

The papers of New York painter and muralist George Biddle (1885-1973), measure 0.76 linear feet and date from circa 1910-1970. The collection includes a certificate signed by President Harry Truman, transcripts of Biddle's diaries, a manuscript of a memoir about meeting President Franklin Roosevelt, three letters from William Hunt Diederich's daughter, transcripts of letters from Bernard Berenson, sketches and mural studies, and two glass plate negatives.