The researcher should be aware that this is a very consciously created collection in that Fitzgerald selected the materials that would be included and made notations on many of them as to their significance or their relationship to her work. Some of her commentaries are quite blunt. None of Fitzgerald's life prior to her writing career is reflected in the papers. This series consists of Fitzgerald's papers relating to her various creative works. Arranged as received, the papers are organized into subseries by the particular works they concerned.
Some works are more completely represented than others.
To show the various phases of the writing and publishing process, each work is arranged into research materials, manuscripts, production materials, responses to the book, and Fitzgerald's inventories of documents. The research materials include notes, incoming correspondence, photographs, and items Fitzgerald collected in pursuing her research. Fitzgerald corresponded with biographers, historians, British nobility, and relatives of the people she wrote about. All have corrections. Production materials include correspondence from her publishers, contracts, and dust jackets.