The collection consists of personal papers of Russell (Princeton Class of 1897), including notes kept by Russell as a student at Princeton (1894-1898) and at Cambridge (1902-1903), as well as lecture notes when he was a professor at Princeton and his working notes on scientific and military problems. In addition, there are manuscripts, typescripst, proofsheets, and galleys of the textbook Astronomy by Russell, Dugan and Stewart, other research papers, book reviews, published lectures, and radio broadcasts. His voluminous international correspondence with colleagues and friends, mostly astronomers and physicists, include such correspondents as Walter S. Adams, E. E. Barnard, Edwin Grant Conklin, Harold W. Dodds, Luther Pfahler Eisenhart, William F. Meggers, Edward C. Pickering, Frank Schlesinger, Harlow Shapley, and Otto Struve.

This collection also contains various documents, such as Russell's honorary degrees, awards, and certificates, as well as memorabilia and printed material. There are many technical photographs of eclipses and the different spectra, and photographs of Russell, McCosh, Meggers, Shapley, Young, and others at Princeton and in their work-related locales.