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This series contains Norman Studer's curriculum vitae, a partial autobiography, a brief biography, memorial tributes, family photographs, family records, and correspondence. The correspondence has been identified by correspondent's name only when the volume or significance warrants such separation; however, the bulk of the correspondence is arranged chronologically. Notable correspondents include Pete and Toshi Seeger and David Dunaway, Seeger's biographer as well as a former Camp Woodland camper.

Watt Espy kept a series of index cards, grouped mainly by state, that records information about executions on American soil (colonies, states, territories) since the 1600s. Some cards contain lots of information, including name, place of execution, method, and details of the crime. Other cards have very little information aside from the fact that someone was executed. Sometimes there is not even a name—just "two slaves" or "pirate". There are additional categories for federal, military, and indigenous executions. There are two different card sizes; for the 3x5 inch cards, each state, territory, or other main division is identified with a manila tab. Subdivisions are marked with blue, unlined cards and are intended to mirror the arrangement of materials in Series #2 as closely as possible.

Series 1 contains materials Dr. Blanchard published while at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and the State University of New York at Albany as well as after his retirement. The topics covered by these publications include the history of science, water-to-air transfer, aerobiology, sea salt aerosols, volcanic electricity, and surface charge. There are also materials covering his studies of bubbles, water droplets, and rain. Along with his scientific publications, Dr. Blanchard also wrote letters to editors, comments and replies to articles, book reviews, obituaries, and autobiographical articles. Dr. Blanchard published materials from the early 1950s to the early 2000s but the majority of materials in are from 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

This series comprises the bulk of Watt Espy's primary and secondary research and is therefore the largest in the collection. Initially, approximately half of these documentation of execution records were arranged in an organized fashion alphabetically by state, or by federal, military, tribal or international categories and then alphabetically by an individual's name. The others were not arranged in any discernable scheme with a significant amount of materials kept as unorganized loose documents in boxes. Espy marked some files as "not written up," but it was ultimately unclear how these differed from other records. After careful review, the archivists decided to combine all of the documentation of executions together, divided the records into five subseries for executions conducted by all 50 states and the District of Columbia, federal executions, military executions, indigenous executions, and international executions, and subsequently arranged and inter-filed all the loose materials.

This series contains various materials that Manley used for his research. It includes court transcripts and briefs, photocopies of manuscripts, reports, notes, news clippings, correspondence, publications, and photographs. Some of this material was used in the writing of Manley's book, The Treaty of Fort Stanwix, 1784. The majority of the material relates to Native American issues, which was an important focus in Manley's legal career. A good portion of this series does have some relationship to legal issues, but it was not included in the Legal Papers Series either because it was not directly related to legal cases or Manley was not directly involved in the relevant cases.

Norman Studer was an educator and administrator at the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School from the early 1930s until 1951. There is a relatively insignificant amount of material related to Studer's teaching activities, with the exception of a folder entitled "Slavery and the Negro Problem." The folder contains notes, bibliographies, and analyses of an educational unit Studer developed addressing the historical and cultural position of the "American Negro" in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The material documents Studer's early interest in the concept of American democracy and interracial relations, as well as his collaborative approach to the subject, which includes portions of student interviews revealing their attitudes toward African Americans, the Civil War and slavery. Also of interest is the folder entitled Our Voice, containing several copies of a student run publication featuring articles, prose, drama, poetry, and opinions of students at the Little Red School House.

Norman Studer served as the Director of the Downtown Community School from 1951 until April 1970. His daughter Joan Levine also taught at the school until 1970. This series is divided into Administration and Activities subseries.

Norman Studer, Rose Sydney, Regine Dicker (Ferber), Sara Abelson (Abramson), and Hannah Studer, founded Camp Woodland in Phoenicia, New York in 1940. Norman Studer served as camp director until 1962. A 1963 fire destroyed the camp buildings.

Unless noted, this series contains photographs and postcards taken, collected by or featuring Norman Studer. There are images from the Little Red School House, Elisabeth Irwin High School, Downtown Community School, Camp Woodland, family trips out-of-state, and various New York locations. While archivists, Studer family members and former students and campers have made identifications where possible, the majority of the photographs contain unidentified individuals or events and are undated.