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The Afterglow series (24 linear feet and one oversized box) contains materials from the 1997 film written and directed by Alan Rudolph and produced by Robert Altman. The actors in the film include Nick Nolte, Julie Christie, Lara Flynn Boyle, Don Jordan, Jay Underwood and Jonny Lee Miller.

The legal materials include "Closing Binders" containing copies of most of the legal documents related to the production. Included are corporate documents for Afterglow, Inc., Elysian Dreams LLC, and Gallery Motion Pictures, Inc., loan documents for Coutts & Co. and Lewis Horowitz Organization, and personnel agreements for the producer, director and cast. In addition, the binders contain documents related to the script, financing, guilds and unions, insurance and other production documents.

The business and financial materials are extensive and include accounts payable for vendors in both the U.S. and Canada. Some of the accounts payable files include contracts for vendors as well. There are also separate files containing the petty cash receipts. The rest of the business and financial materials cover payroll and budgets.

The script materials chronicle the various changes and drafts. They also include the final "lined" version of the script used during production.

The production materials consist mostly of schedules. There are detailed production reports and call sheets for each day of shooting. In addition, there is a detailed production notebook with information about all stages of the process, from casting to delivery.

The Aria series (0.1 linear foot) contains material from the 1987 film Aria. This film consisted of ten segments each by a different director with each one taking inspiration from a different opera. Altman's segment features the piece "Lieu désolé" from the opera "Les Boréades" by Jean-Philippe Rameau. It is sung by Jennifer Smith, Ane-Marie Rodde, and Philip Langride and stars Julie Hagerty, Geneviève Page, Sandrine Dumas, and Chris Campion. Other segments of this film are directed by Jean-Luc Godard, Charles Sturridge, Nicolas Roeg, Julien Temple, Bruce Beresford, Franc Roddam, Ken Russell, Derek Jarman, and Bill Bryden. The film was produced by Dan Boyed.

The legal material and the business and financial records in this series contain information regarding Boyds Co. Film Production Limited which provided editing services for the film. The articles and reviews sub-series contain material regarding both on Altman's segment of the film and the entire production from both domestic and international publications. Awards, events, and festivals sub-series contain materials from the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. Included is a program for the film which includes stills of Altman's segment photographed by one of Altman's sons, Robert Reed Altman.

The Brewster McCloud series (1 linear foot and 1 oversized box) consists of materials from the 1971 film directed by Robert Altman, and written by Doran William Cannon. The film features the actors Bud Cort, Sally Kellerman, Michael Murphy, Shelley Duvall, Rene Auberjonois, Stacy Keach, Bert Remsen, Jennifer Salt and John Schuck. Slides contain images from a cast and crew softball game played in the Astrodome, where a portion of the film is set. Additionally, the slides contain images of birds, possibly taken by the titular character. The scrapbook features original artwork for the film, and photographs of the cast and crew, assembled by producer Lou Adler. Additionally, the photographs contain an inscribed on-the-set still given to Altman by actor Cort. Many of the on-the-set images feature Altman and Cort testing the flying apparatus. Additional materials include a foreign press kit, an original script by Cannon (the film then calledBrewster McCloud's Flying Machine) , and various caricatures of the cast.

The Business and Financial series (68 linear feet) are business records that range from payroll, paid bills, general ledgers, insurance, banking transactions, residuals and other financial documents. There are two sub-series beginning with the Personal sub-series, and ending with the Accounting and General Business sub-series both organized chronologically. The documents range in date from 1969-2007.

As Robert Altman often financed his own films, and received payments for them in both his corporate and personal banking accounts, his personal business records contain financial records pertaining to his various projects.

There are two sub-series Personal and Accounting and General Business and both are organized chronologically. The Personal sub-series includes documents that pertain to the maintenance of his New York and California homes as well as residuals and insurance information. The Accounting and General Business section reflects the various production companies Altman created to produce and finance his various film projects.

The Commercials series (1 linear foot) includes materials from Robert Altman's commercial production company, Villains, and the various commercials he directed or under consideration for direction, ca. 2001-2005. The commercials were for both domestic and international corporations. Some projects, such as the Revlon, E! Entertainment and SunCom Wireless material include detailed production information, while other projects include brief correspondence. On the backs of portions of the Revlon scripts include scene notes for Tanner on Tanner, which was in production at the time.

The Miller Beer Commercial file (0.3 linear feet) consists of material from a series of commercials for Miller Beer directed by Robert Altman in May, 1984. The commercials were filmed in Ann Arbor, Michigan (possibly during production of Secret Honor, an additional Altman production filmed there). The commercials feature the actors Jonathan Frakes, Gary Schiebler, Craig Sisler, and David Alan Grier.

The Miller Beer Commercial business and financials files include petty cash envelopes, documenting financial transactions occurring at many area Ann Arbor businesses. The scripts sub-series include thirty and sixty-second versions of one of the commercials, titled "New Job." (While the series includes scripts for this commercial only, the call and contact sheets, located in the production sub-series, indicate several commercials were shot. The titles of the additional commercials are "Playoffs" and "Gym.") Production and post-production sub-series contains audition report forms, which indicate actor Kelsey Grammer was among many who auditioned for the roles.

The Correspondence series is primarily comprised of letters written by Alan Campbell to Dorothy Parker during his military service in World War II. The letters, though obviously composed with the military censor in mind, are highly descriptive and evocative of war time experience. Campbell describes his daily activities as well as those of his troops. He also portrays the social worlds of London and Paris, and mentions other writers involved in the war effort such as Major Theodore Giesel (Dr. Seuss). A few of these letters include photographs, which have been housed in envelopes and left with the accompanying letter for the purpose of continuity.

The collection contains no replies to any of Campbell's World War II letters. In all of these letters, Campbell writes fondly of his desire for a continuing relationship with Parker, even though the two divorced within several months of his return home from the service in 1946. It is possible that the correspondence was weeded at some point, to eliminate signs of strife. There are also a number of letters Campbell sent to Parker from Hollywood, presumably while she was either at their country home in Pennsylvania or in New York City. These letters discuss the Hollywood social circle and his script writing. There are also three letters to other recipients: Hiram Beer, the groundskeeper of their Pennsylvania home; the Packard Motor Car Company, complaining of Campbell’s purchase of a “lemon;” and to an unidentified woman named Peggy.

The sub-series Incoming Correspondence is less extensive, but includes letters from Rosalie Stewart, Leland Hayward and Zeppo Marx, all of whom acted as agents for the Parker/Campbell writing team. There is also a small group of letters from Paul Streger to Campbell and Parker, and a letter from Mrs.Edward Warburg, inviting Dorothy Parker to attend a function where Eleanor Roosevelt was to be present.