The first series chronicles Allanah Harper's life from the 1930s through the early 1990s. It is comprised primarily of Harper's outgoing and incoming correspondence, but it also includes clippings, manuscripts, notebooks, and photographs. The bulk of Harper's correspondence is incoming, but the collection does include seventeen outgoing letters, about half of which are postcards. Recipients include her mother and Amy Smart. Harper's incoming correspondence is comprised of letters from her friends, her mother, and various scholars.
Letters are mainly in English, but there is also some correspondence in French.
The greatest quantity of letters are from Sybille Bedford, Harper's close friend, and sometime financial supporter. The letters, which are personal in nature, date from 1946 to 1991, bulking in the 1950s to 1970s. Also present are letters and contracts with the London literary agency David Higham Associates, Ltd., relating to Harper's contributions to a book project on her friend Edith Sitwell. Included as well are also several folders of unidentified correspondence, which have either incomplete names or indecipherable signatures. Harper's manuscript of her autobiography, All Trivial Fond Records is present along with some manuscripts and notes for a few short works.