The bulk of the Elizabeth Jennings papers is composed of original poetry manuscripts dating from 1957-1996. The manuscripts feature both published and unpublished works of adult and children's poetry. The poetry notebooks also contain personal information which begins to appear in the material from 1982 and includes notes regarding colleagues and friends, finances and taxes, items purchased and sold, and information about moving.

The remainder of the collection features manuscripts of prose work (including books, reviews and biographical essays), signed typescripts of poems (including "Art of Verse" and "A May Morning"), personal and professional correspondence, and printed materials and ephemera. Significant among the prose manuscripts are the unpublished A Brief Study of T.S. Eliot and His Life and Jennings' autobiography Without Whom. The correspondence features letters from Sir Alec Guinness and Priscilla Tolkien Cyen, as well as a letter from the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood regarding a reception of the Commander of the Order of the British Empire.