The ACLU is the preeminent civil liberties organization in the United States. These records document the work of their national office in the areas of civil rights, children and women's rights, freedom of speech (and all First Amendment questions), and due process, among many others, predominantly from 1970 to 2000.

The Records of the Association on American Indian Affairs document the corporate life of an influential and resilient player in the history of twentieth-century Native American advocacy. From its formation by non-Indians in New York in 1922 to its re-establishment in South Dakota in 1995 under a wholly Indian administration, the AAIA has defended the rights and promoted the welfare of Native Americans and, in this process, has shaped the views of their fellow citizens. The AAIA has waged innumerable battles over the years, touching on the material and spiritual well-being of Indians in every state of the Union: from the right of Native Americans to control their resources to their right to worship freely; from their right to federal trusteeship to their right to self-determination. The evolving nature of this struggle, in terms of conception and execution; the environment in which it was waged, both within and without the AAIA; the parade of men and women who figured in it; and the relationships among them can all be found in the abundant and insightful records which constitute these Records. The correspondence, minutes, reports, articles, clippings, and other documents in the collection, augmented by photographic and audiovisual material, represent a window not only on the AAIA but on the entities and personalities with which it interacted. While its vision has co-existed with others, and while it has been far from alone in its contribution to Indian life, no consideration of twentieth-century Native American affairs can disregard its arduous and, for the most part, fruitful work.

The Woodrow Wilson Collection consists of Wilson holdings which have been acquired by the Princeton University Library Special Collections gradually over many years by purchase and gifts from many sources. The collection is rich in material prior to Wilson's presidential years, although it is not limited to this period; researchers will find materials documenting both the public and private life of Woodrow Wilson. Various types of information written by or about Wilson are present in the collection, including manuscripts, addresses, articles, correspondence, telegrams, legal documents, booklets, pamphlets, photographs, portraits, cartoons, newspapers and scrapbooks.

Frank W. Notestein contributed significantly to the science of demography and to a better understanding of population problems in world affairs. The Frank W. Notestein Papers contain correspondence, speeches, and writings documenting the research, ideas, career and leadership roles of this former Princeton professor, director of the Office of Population Research, and president of the Population Council.

This collection consists of the papers received and generated by the staff of the Washington, D.C. Office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) during the 1950s and 1960s. The ACLU is a leading defender of civil liberties in the United States. Founded in 1920, it has been the recipient of sharp criticism for its willingness to defend unpopular causes and has participated in a majority of the landmark cases to come before the Supreme Court in the twentieth century. The Washington Office's primary responsibility is to monitor legislative issues. In the 1950s the office worked against abuses caused by McCarthyism, including loyalty oath requirements, powers of legislative investigating committees, and censorship of free speech and expression. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the office focused on civil rights issues and the defense of alternative means of self expression. The Washington Office was also deeply involved with defending the civil liberties of those associated with the federal government and its agencies.

The papers consist primarily of records maintained in William Fitts Ryan's congressional office in Washington, D.C. his district office in New York City, and campaign materials.

Charles W. Yost (1907-1981) led a varied career as a diplomat, United Nations representative, writer, and scholar. He was a member of the foreign service intermittently between 1930 and 1971, after which time he devoted himself full-time to writing and teaching. Yost's papers document his professional life in the Foreign Service, as well as his time in academia, and include his correspondence, writings, and photographs.

Don Oberdorfer (1931-2015) worked as a journalist for nearly four decades; twenty-five of those years were as a staff member at the Washington Post, where he served as White House correspondent (1968-1972), Northeast Asia correspondent (1972-1975), and diplomatic correspondent (1976-1993). The collection is mostly composed of Oberdorfer's notebooks that chronicle his assignments with the Post, as well as his work post-retirement. The collection also consists of transcripts of interviews conducted by Oberdorfer with both American and Soviet foreign policy officials for his book The Turn: From the Cold War to a New Era, The United States and the Soviet Union, 1983-1990 (Poseidon Press, 1991, and Touchstone Press, 1992). Additionally, the papers contain a significant amount of research material and writings related to Oberdorfer's career, foreign policy actions taken by the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War, and the political climate of Japan and Korea from the late 1960s into the early twenty-first century.

Melvin A. Hall's renaissance career as adventurer, aviator, soldier, agent, financial administrator and author spanned four and a half decades, and is well represented in this collection. The materials include: diaries; personal and business correspondence; official documents, reports and correspondence from his tenure with the American Financial Mission in Persia; copies of his published writings, including drafts of his books Journey to the End of an Era and Bird of Time; articles, reviews, speeches and military intelligence reports; copies of unpublished writings; subject files containing background and research notes; information on his medals, awards and commendations; diaries and correspondence from Hall's father, William Augustus Hall, Hall's wife Josephine Johnson Hall, a World War I field nurse; and photographs and scrapbooks.

The William P. Bundy Papers document Bundy's career in public service, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and editor of Foreign Affairs. Additionally, the collection consists of correspondence and subject files for Bundy's 1998 book, A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency.