The Virginia Spencer Carr Collection contains correspondence, research notes, interviews (transcripts and audio tapes), photographs, manuscript drafts of publications and other materials compiled and created by Virginia Spencer Carr in the course of her research and writing of John Dos Passos: A Life. John Dos Passos, a noted American literary figure of the "lost generation," published a number of important works, including the trilogy U.S.A.

Among important materials in the collection are the personal reminisces of family members, colleagues and contemporary figures of Dos Passos (notably, letters by Simone de Beauvoir, William F. Buckley, William Slater Brown, Frances Scott Fitzgerald, and family members of both Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck are included). The collection also includes extensive research files on the life and publications of Dos Passos and family members.