The William H. Gass Papers consist largely of his own manuscript material: manuscripts and proof material toward his books, drafts of various stories, essays, and reviews, interviews, and a miscellaneous assortment of notes and other materials. Also present is a substantial amount of professional correspondence, primarily with universities, magazines, and publishers, as well as with his colleagues in academia and in the literary community.

The Charles Guenther Papers includes correspondence, 1964-1970, principally between Guenther and Washington University library officials concerning the placing of Guenther's literary materials. Also included are original poems and poetry translation from the French and German and reprints or copies of selected published articles on E.E. Cummings, Pierre Francois Regnier, an address on poetry given at St. Louis University, and miscellany.