This collection contains correspondence, study materials, journals, address books, programs, memorabilia, teaching material, military documents and photographs and negatives documenting his personal, academic and professional life between 1930 and 1988, one item per year from 1848, 1856, 1859, 1898, 1901 and 1903, and a record book of personal finances contains entries from 1989 in someone else's handwriting.

The Department of Asian Art records contain correspondence, reports, photographs, newspaper clippings, and other miscellaneous material. These records document the activities of the department from the 1930s to the 1990s.

These files are comprised of records and correspondence generated by the Director's Office of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (formerly called The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) during the tenure of Paul Gardner (1932-53), the first Director of the Museum. The Director's Office was occupied by Ethylne Jackson who was Acting Director from November 1942 until January 1946 while Gardner served in the American Armed Forces during World War II.