The Papers of Edgar Allen Poe consist of literary manuscripts, correspondence, miscellaneous documents, and numerous prints and engravings. Correspondence includes family and business matters, some dealing with publication matters. There are also letters from Maria Clemm, mother of Virginia Clemm, discussing Edgar Allen Poe and Virginia Clemm.

Correspondents include: Mary A. Benjamin, Maria Clemm, George W. Eveleth, James A. Harrison, John Pendleton Kennedy, June E. Locke, Charles G. Percival, Edgar Allen Poe, Annie L. Richmond, J. H. Whitty, Laura Stedman, and Thomas W. White.

Included in literary manuscripts is an article by Edgar Allen Poe, entitled "The Rationale of Verse," in which he explicates his own poem, "Al Aaraaf." Also are Edgar Allen Poe's corrections of a play by Estella Lewis and hand-written copies of her poems. Two poems by William Henry Poe, the brother of Edgar Allen Poe, are also included, which are handwritten by the editor of Minerva.

Miscellaneous Documents, or Series III, contains two promissory notes, receipts, and Jefferson Society Minutes in the hand of Edgar Allen Poe.

The photographs, prints and illustrative material includes copies the major daguerreotypes of Edgar Allen Poe ("McKee," "Painter," "Pratt," "Stella," "Ultima Thule," "West Point," and "Whitehurst") as well as images of persons and places associated with his work.