The collection consists mainly of Schulberg's writings, with some correspondence, documents, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous material. Included are the manuscripts for the novels What Makes Sammy Run? (New York: Random House, 1941), The Harder They Fall (New York: Random House, 1947), The Disenchanted (New York: Random House, 1950), Waterfront (New York: Random House, 1955), and Sanctuary (New York: World Publishing Co., 1969). In addition, there are manuscripts of several screenplays, including A Face in the Crowd (New York: Random House, 1957), Wind Across the Everglades (New York: Random House, 1958), and On the Waterfront (1954); the play The Disenchanted (New York: Random House, 1959); and the musical What Makes Sammy Run? (New York: Random House, 1965), the last three based on Schulberg's novels. The collection also contains Schulberg's edited manuscript From the Ashes: Voices of Watts (New York: New American Library, 1967), a project of the Watts Writers' Workshop which he helped establish in the aftermath of the 1965 Los Angeles Watts riots. Among his non-fiction works are the manuscript of "Machiavelli on 8th Avenue," the biography of the boxing promoter, Mike Jacobs; articles, essays, and a thesis, "Jefferson Democracy," written as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College; and an introduction to Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust (1965).

The bulk of the correspondence consists of letters by Schulberg's literary agent, Brandt and Brandt, and congratulatory letters on the publication of The Disenchanted and The Harder They Fall. There is also miscellaneous correspondence from Random House, Schulberg's publisher, and the Sidney Cox Fund at Dartmouth, legal contracts and agreements, scrapbooks for What Makes Sammy Run? and Waterfront, and miscellaneous material.

The following standard abbreviations, or their variations, are used to identify materials in this collection: ANS = autograph note signed, TNS = typed note signed, AMsS = autograph manuscript signed, and TMsS = typed manuscript signed.