The collection includes materials regarding the origin and development of the Fulbright exchange program, and letters of appreciation from American and foreign scholarship recipients. Scholars have visited the collection from institutions in more than twenty-five states, the District of Columbia, and twelve foreign countries, including the former Soviet Union, Japan, and Israel. Most of the researchers have concentrated on U.S. political history and mid-twentieth century foreign policy. However, Fulbright's intellectual ties with people outside politics allow researchers from a variety of disciplines to make productive use of the papers. The Fulbright Papers are processed and open to researchers.
Access is available through an unpublished twelve-volume finding aid, some of which is online .
Restrictions limit access to some files. Organized in 1961, it functioned as a part of the State Department until 1978, when it merged with the United States Information Agency. An important component of the collection concerns the Fulbright academic exchange program. Other important files pertain to the early programs with Latin America and Germany and the exchange program with the former Soviet Union. The finding aid is available online .