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This series contains documents, several selections of diary entries, photographs and curriculum vita of Bates. The documents pertaining to Roy C. Bates (Kurt Bauchwitz) date from 1890 to 1974 with later documents pertaining to Barbara Bates (third wife), which date through 1995. Included in the collection are many early documents such as birth certificates, early school documents, marriage certificates from Bates/Bauchwitz' first two marriages in Germany, as well as university and military service documents. Also in the collection are a number of documents which record Bates/Bauchwitz' legal career as well as his subsequent dismissal from his post by the Hitler regime in 1938. His period of flight from Nazi Germany is also well-documented, as well as his early years in the U.S., including his naturalization as a U.S. citizen in 1946. Also included in this section are documents pertaining to his university studies in the U.S. at Columbia, St. John's and New York Universities. Completing the biographical section of this series are a number of curriculum vita, several biographical statements prepared for planned editions of Bates' poetry, as well as a number of photographs.

The correspondence files contain photographs, offprints and clippings in addition to the correspondence (ca. 5,000 letters), which dates primarily from Bates' U.S. years (1941-1974), although a few earlier letters are present in the collection. Several correspondences were continued after Bates' death in 1974 by his widow, Barbara, until as late as 1987. Letters are in German, English and French and have been divided into five sub-series: personal, legal, literary, mental health and drug research, and miscellaneous.

The manuscripts and typescripts are divided into two sub-series: poetry, epigrammatic verse and aphorisms make up the first, while prose writings comprise the second sub-series.

This series contains copies of most of the published writings of Kurt Bauchwitz/Roy C. Bates, either in the original or as photocopies; for a complete listing see "Bibliography of Published Writings.".

The miscellaneous materials files have been divided into two sections, those materials collected and used by Roy C. Bates, and those of his wife, Barbara Bent Bates.

Oversize materials include: Bates' diplomas from Columbia University, New York University, 2 paintings (presumably gifts), and an audio tape of the memorial service for Roy C. Bates.