In addition to individual manuscripts, one finds diaries and journals containing drafts and revisions of his works. Often adding notes at various times, WBY, as well as his father, would turn notebooks around and write from back to front. This has created additional complications in identifying the original order of a manuscript book. Records of Yeats' many activities can be found in materials relating to the Golden Dawn, Abbey Theatre and Irish Senate. Of particular note are the voluminous materials relating to the occult, automatic writing, astrology, and sleeps.
Correspondence forms the bulk of the family papers.
Of special interest are the family histories and memorabilia found in Lily's scrapbooks, documents and correspondence relating to the Thomastown lands, sketches by John Butler Yeats and his son, Jack, as well as the published and many unpublished works of John Butler Yeats. The rituals and documents relating to the Golden Dawn form the bulk of the papers relating to Yeats' friends and associates. This third subgroup includes some of the works written by WBY's friends, some drafts or page proofs for publication by the Cuala Press, and some sent perhaps for valued criticism. Correspondence filed in this subgroup is to and from persons outside the family. The collection is multi-lingual.