The collection contains documents spanning the dates from 1865 to 1989, with the bulk of the material from the period 1882-1865, and relating to the history and operation of Atlanta University and later Atlanta University Center, including newspaper clippings, ephemera, presidential reports, general correspondence, financial documents, photographs, legal documents, and essays, memoirs, and speeches.

The papers consist of an assortment of periodicals including Life, Ebony, and New York magazine, books, sheet music, and news clippings. The sheet music dates from 1906 to 1932, and the articles, books, and newsclippings, dated from 1968 to 1985, treat Martin Luther King, Jr., Spelman College, Atlanta University, African American life, and history.