The archive includes the papers, correspondence, diaries and manuscripts, recordings, research material and publications of Professor Eric Mottram and spans the period 1928-1995. Covering his own creative work and academic publications, it also reflects his wide-ranging cultural investigations in the field of twentieth century American and English literature, film, music, art, theatre and popular and material culture. A major series of files about named authors and poets covers figures as diverse as Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Charles Olson, Ezra Pound, Jerome Rothenberg, Muriel Rukeyser, William Burroughs, Basil Bunting, Bob Cobbing, Roy Fisher, Bill Griffiths and Tom Raworth. Also of particular importance are a series of original tape recordings, mainly made by Mottram, of poets reading their work. Linked to this material is a rich series of little press publications and little magazines. The two chief aspects of Mottram's own work are reflected in his artist notebooks and essays. The former run from 1979-1988 and contain draft poems, notes on a whole range of research topics, with inserts of postcards, press-cuttings, photographs, cartoons, artworks and postage stamps to create a rich wallet of collage effects. The essay series, including published and unpublished material and supporting notes, reflects his wide-ranging contribution over nearly half a century to the teaching of American and English literature. Major groupings within the archive are as follows: personal papers including appointment diaries, 1951-1995, and correspondence with Ted and Joan Wilentz, 1963-1994; papers reflecting Mottram's own poetry including notebooks, and manuscripts, 1956-1995; papers reflecting his publications including reviews and collaborations, 1952-1988; editorial papers notably for The Poetry Review; correspondence with and/or papers relating to twentieth century creative writers, 1928-1998; little press publications, 1954-1998;little magazines, 1942-1998; papers relating to academic teaching, research and administration, [1952]-1994; Mottram's essay texts and associated material, 1947-1995; promotional material for literary events and from publishers, 1945-1958; artworks and posters, 1953-1994; photographs by Mottram, 1950-1995; and recorded material notably including original recordings of poets from both sides of the Atlantic reading their material, 1950-1998.

Transcriptions of source material and notes by Douglas on Elizabethan and Stuart journalism, [1935-1954], mainly comprising typed transcriptions of newspapers, pamphlets and similar sources of news, 1566-1622, with associated notes and references by Collins, and including typescript of 'Elizabethan journalism, 1590-1610' by Collins; manuscript and typescript introduction, table of contents and bibliography of A Handlist of News Pamphlets, 1590-1610 (Walthamstow South-West Essex Technical College and School of Art, London, 1943) by Collins; file of correspondence with archivists (mainly at Essex Country Record Office, the Bodleian Library and Chester City Record Office), concerning sources of Elizabethan and Stuart journalism and pamphlets, 1948-1954, with a manuscript copy of an interim report on the subject, [1949]; notebook containing research on the early modern postal service; manuscript notes on Sixteenth Century French news pamphlets and related material, including research undertaken on Collins' behalf by Robert J North, with covering letters from North to Collins, 1934.