The series consists of Smithson's curriculum vitae, a list of favorite things, an Art Students League class evaluation, vaccination records, a passport, a wallet, and eight engagement/day planners Smithson and Holt maintained from 1966 to 1973. Miscellaneous materials include an article on Charles Smithson and a photocopy of the front page of the New York Herald Tribune on the day of Robert Smithson's birth. The series also includes a funeral register and an artist's statement prepared by three unidentified friends upon Smithson's death.

Materials are arranged chronologically within each folder.

Correspondence is primarily with Smithson's family, friends, fellow artists, and business associates discussing personal relationships, proposed art projects, and exhibitions.

The series is arranged as 3 subseries:

This series includes nine interview transcripts with Robert Smithson. Topics include his general philosophy on art; contemporary art in relation to its historical context; non-sites, earthworks, entropy, space, and structures; the relationship between artists and dealers, museums, and collectors; and his most influential works, including Spiral Jetty, Broken Circle, and Spiral Hill.

The Alan Kaprow and Rodger Katan transcript (1966) focuses on the relationship between museums and contemporary art. The transcript with Dennis Wheeler (1969-1970) consists of 4 taped, informal sessions discussing Smithson's general philosophy on art, non-sites, and specific projects. In the Paul Toner transcript (1970), Smithson discusses earthworks, mirror displacements, non-sites, and art's historical context. The Gregorie Muller transcript [1971] focuses on the background and construction of Broken Circle and Spiral Hill. The Art Institute of Chicago transcript (1971) records Smithson's question and answer session with the audience after a showing of his films Swamp and Spiral Jetty. In the Bruce Kurtz transcript (1972), Smithson informally discusses artists' relationships with dealers, museums, and collectors; gallery art's general separation from nature; capitalism's influence and intersection with art; and his 1966 airport projects.

The Stella Russell (1973) transcript focuses on Spiral Jetty, Broken Circle, and Spiral Hill. In the Alison Sky transcript (1973), Smithson discusses his thoughts on entropy, the act of building, and its intersection with the architectural and engineering mechanics of structure. In Smithson's transcript with two unidentified students (1973), he discusses modernism and the branching off of developing contemporary art; public sculpture; historical context, theory, linguistics, and humanism; and thoughts on his own writings. The transcript with Moira Roth (1973) focuses on Duchamp and conceptual art.

There is also a full transcript of the Andrew Dickson White Museum's Earth Art Symposium (1969) with the following participating artists: Mike Hiezer, Dennis Oppenheim, Robert Smithson, Neil Jenney, Gunther Uecker, Jan Dibbets, Richard Long, and Hans Haacke.

This series is arranged in chronological order by year of the interview.

Writings consist of drafts of published and unpublished essays by Smithson on art, artists, and works in progress. The series also includes poems by Smithson, six notebooks containing notes and sketches by Smithson, and drafts of writings sent to Smithson and Holt by friends and colleagues, including Carl Andre, Terry Atkinson, Dan Flavin, and Dan Graham.

The series is arranged as 2 subseries:

Project files contain correspondence, project instructions, diagrams and sketches, research materials, photographic material, and maps related to over 50 of Smithson's artworks. These include concepts, proposed projects, sculptures, non-sites, and earthwork projects, including Spiral Jetty, Broken Circle, and Spiral Hill.

The series also includes miscellaneous textual and graphic research material collected by Smithson but unrelated to any specific art project.

The series has been arranged alphabetically by project name.

Personal business records include gallery related loan arrangements and receipts for miscellaneous art supplies.

The series has been arranged alphabetically by organization.

Financial records include tax forms and preparation documents, including cancelled checks, receipts, statements, and related correspondence.

The series has been arranged chronologically by document type.

Printed materials include books, clippings, and periodicals related to Smithson, either containing writings or sketches by him, or containing articles reviewing his work. While some of the clippings review Smithson's exhibitions and work, the bulk of the clippings are on the general topics of contemporary art trends, earth art, and emerging artists.

Exhibition announcements and catalogs are of Smithson's group and solo shows from 1959 to 1985, and include the following concept exhibitions whose catalogs were issued in very limited numbers: One Month (organized by Seth Siegelaub, March 1969), Letters (organized by Philip Simkin, July 1969), Projects Class (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Fall 1969), and Exhibition 557,087 (organized by Lucy Lippard, 1969).

Other rare printed materials in the series include Vito Acconci's Transference: Roget's Thesaurus, Acconci's periodical 0 to 9 (#6, July 1969), and the avant-garde periodical Aspen (#8, 1970).

Also included are inventory lists of the published books, periodicals, and phonographs from Robert Smithson's library that have been transferred to off-site storage.

The series has been arranged by publication type.

The scrapbook contains clippings of Smithson's published articles from 1966 to 1973 with annotated shorthand notes on album pages.

The scrapbook retains its original arrangement.

Artwork consists of Christmas cards collaged by Smithson, and sketches by Smithson and Leo Valledor.

The series is arranged by artwork type.

Photographic materials include prints and negatives of Smithson with friends, promotional Hollywood movie stills, copyprints of other artists' artwork, and original photographs of artwork by Rosemarie Castoro, Michael Heizer, and N.E. Thing Co.

The series is arranged by subject.

Artifacts consist of a paper bag silkscreened with a Campbell's soup can (Warhol), promotional buttons (N.E. Thing Co.), various organic materials, and two art kits. The Geometric Units for Logic Test kit consists of 17 geometric shape cutouts; the Gravity for Traveling I kit consists of over 15 samples of mixed materials, including foams, glass, fabrics, plastics, and metals.

The series is arranged by artifact type.

The Nancy Holt papers consist of correspondence, a grant application, printed materials, and project files and material related to her motion picture film Pine Barrens (1975) and her seminal environmental work of art Sun Tunnels (1976). original elements include a release print, outtakes, trims, and soundtrack, and paper records include footage logs and a detailed handwritten description of the film. There is a video documentary about the making of .

The series has been arranged by material type.

Much of the original film materials from the and projects have been transferred to video for research access, including the release print and a portion of outtakes, and the work print.