The collection consists primarily of printed material about Schweitzer, but also contains manuscripts of two works by him as well as correspondence, photographs, and miscellaneous material. Included are the manuscript of Schweitzer's article "Le Problème de l'éthique dans l'évolution de la Pensée Humaine" and one page of the manuscript of his book Die Weltanschung de Indischen Denker. There is original Schweitzer correspondence (in French), and copies of his correspondence with Albert Einstein and Walter Lenel (in German). There are also photographs of Schweitzer, his hospital at Lambaréné in Gabon, French Equatorial Africa, and Alsace, his birthplace. Of significance are over 150 4x5 photographs by Charles R. Joy, many of which appeared in his photographic works about Schweitzer, including The Africa of Albert Schweitzer (Boston, 1948).

The printed material contains magazine articles in English, but also in French and German, and includes caricatures, cartoons, postage stamps, calendars with pictures of Schweitzer and Lambaréné, book jackets, and information about the film Albert Schweitzer (1957). Correspondence by Howard C. Rice, Jr., and other Princeton University librarians regarding the collection, material used for an exhibition about Schweitzer in 1956 at Firestone Library, and copies of articles which appeared in the Princeton University Library Chronicle (1958) constitute the rest of the collection.