The P.E.N. American Center Records consist of files created by P.E.N. American Center (PEN America) as part of its regular business operations. They document the history and activities of the center since its foundation in 1922.

The collection contains files documenting the center's literary awards, grants, and financial aid given by the center, program files, and files pertaining to the center's advocacy for freedom of expression. Further included are files that document the center's decision-making processes and policies, including executive and committee files, fundraising files, and membership files. The conference files and files on other branches and centers document P.E.N. American Center's role in International P.E.N. and its interactions with organizations of P.E.N. worldwide. In addition, the collection contains audiovisual material documenting P.E.N. events and publications created by or under the auspices of P.E.N. American Center.

The collection is especially notable for its documentation of authors' and editors' creative processes and intellectual leanings, manifest in the executive correspondence files and the manuscripts and committee files that pertain to the center's literary awards. More than 1500 hours of audio and video recordings of P.E.N. programs and events, dating back to 1966, also document lively conversations between writers and artists, Nobel Prize winners in literature, economics, science, and peace, social reformers and activists, and philosophers, including Toni Morrison, Saul Bellow, Pablo Neruda, Arthur Miller, Susan Sontag, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Allen Ginsberg to name only a few.