Collection consists of correspondence, diaries, notebooks, publications, financial records, and photographs of Douglas Woodruff, including records from Woodruff's editorial role at The Tablet newspaper, and his diary kept while in Rome during Vatican II. The papers also document Marie Immaculée Acton Woodruff's charitable work, as well as the Woodruff and Acton family histories through genealogical documents and original papers of the preceding generations of family members.

Of particular interest is correspondence between Woodruff and Alfred Noyes, as well as material that may have been collected by Woodruff or his family, including: a diary belonging to Elodie Hogan (later Belloc) and correspondence by Aubrey Beardsley, Ernest Dowson, and Pierre Louÿs.