The John Wieners collection includes correspondence between John Wieners and his friend and mentor Charles Olson, with whom Wieners studied at Black Mountain College. Their letters date between 1955 and 1967 and discuss poetry, metaphysical concerns, the literary scene in Boston and New York, Black Mountain College, mutual friends, and fellow poets including Robin Blaser, Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, Gerrit Lansing, Frank O'Hara, Michael Rumaker, and Jack Spicer. There is also a small amount of correspondence related to Wieners's attendance at Black Mountain College. The second, smaller set of correspondence in this collection is between Wieners and his friend Robert W. Greene, whom he met at Boston College while working on the literary magazine the Stylus. Wieners wrote to Greene from 1955-1958 about Black Mountain College, his poetry, mutual friends, and life in San Francisco and Boston. The Robert W. Greene - John Wieners materials also include later correspondence in which Greene recalls his friendship with Wieners, and notes compiled by Greene that identify many of the places, people, and incidents referred to in Wieners's letters.

This collection also contains manuscripts by Olson, Wieners, and Michael Rumaker, as well as fliers and a newsletter pertaining to Charles Olson, and a bibliography of Olson's works. Several of Wieners's manuscripts are notes taken in Olson's classes at Black Mountain College.