Most of the correspondence in the Charles Hutchinson Papers is personal, and reflects Hutchinson's social life and friendships during his school and undergraduate years, as well as the activities of an Army lieutenant during World War II. The series includes correspondence both received and written by Hutchinson. Correspondents include many young friends as well as Hutchinson's mother, Mrs. I. H. Hutchinson (formerly Emily Newbold Bell). Hutchinson was active in the social life and debutante circuit of Philadelphia and New York City as well as his native Jobstown, NJ. Correspondence includes two folders of printed social invitations, as well as one of table cards and calling cards.

Official correspondence from Princeton University reflects undergraduate life of the period during World War II—both before and after American entry into the War—as well as Princeton's condensed schedule, military training and emergency measures for wartime. Hutchinson was part of the class of 1943, many of whose members graduated in January 1943 in order to make them available for the war effort.

Hutchinson trained to be an officer at Fort Sill, OK, in early 1943, as did other Princeton graduates. He was stationed at Fort Bragg, NC from May to December 1943, and afterwards split the time until August, 1944 between Fort Sill and Camp Rucker, AL. Letters from this period shed light on the daily activities and social life of an officer at each of these bases.

Hutchinson served in the European Theater of Operations, sending letters home to his mother in Jobstown from England, September through December 1944, in the form of V-Mail. Letters Hutchinson wrote or typed on V-Mail forms abroad were transferred to microfilm, and printed for the recipient in the United States on photographic paper at a reduced size (roughly 4 x 5 inches). His letters from England do not reflect Army movements or locations, focusing instead on scenery, weather, and social life. Two V-Mail letters are addressed to Mrs. I.H. Hutchinson from Norman Russell, Jr., her nephew, also serving in England in 1944.

Grouped with the correspondence is a daybook (printed in 1903, including notes from various periods, but primarily used by Hutchinson in 1937) reflective of Hutchinson's social engagements, as well as a handwritten schedule for December, 1938 and calendar pages from 1939 and 1940. One notebook contains addresses for invitees to Hutchinson's Lawrenceville School commencement in 1939.

Much of the correspondence, particularly from the school periods, is undated. When dates and postmarks are absent, letters have been categorized as belonging to Lawrenceville or Princeton periods with more or less certainty based on stationery or content.