Series consists of Edel's correspondence related to research on Henry James. Included are letters from some personal friends and other contemporaries of James, such as Percy Lubbock and Edith Wharton. Also included are over 1,500 pages of correspondence dating between 1937 and 1955 with Allan Wade. Other correspondents include Caroline Kipling, Anita Leslie, Sir Shane Leslie, and Theodora Bosanquet, James's long-time amanuensis. The series also contains correspondence with some James family members, including Michael James, Alexander James, Frederika (Mrs. Alexander) James, Maggie (Mrs. Samuel Spruul) James.

Series consists of files of material on Canadian literature and Canadian authors, including notes, typescripts, letters, and clippings. Includes correspondence with such figures as John Glassco, Leo Kennedy, A. J. M. Klein, Douglas Adam, and F. R. Scott. A number of folders contain material on the biologist Louis Rapkine, including correspondence. One file contains material related to the McGill Fortnightly. There are additionally notes and clippings on Stephen Leacock.

Series consists of Edel's notebooks, including address books, diaries, journals, and travel notes.

Series consists of research files on Edmund Wilson, including Edel's correspondence with Rosalind Wilson, and some files on the poet Léonie Adams and her relationship with Wilson.

Series contains Edel’s personal materials, including notes and drafts for his memoirs, correspondence and notebooks from the war years, family correspondence with Edel's wife Roberta, brother Abraham and other family members, and notebooks kept while abroad during the 1940s.

The series contains Leon Edel's correspondence, with the majority before 1989. The correspondence ranges from personal to professional and literary, with letters from friends, acquaintances, scholars, authors, and publishers, such as Harvard University Press. Files that are significant either because of the correspondent or due to the extent of the correspondence include W. W. Norton, Anais Nin, Hannah Arendt, E. M. Forster, H. Montgomery Hyde, Geoffrey Keynes, and Allen Ginsberg. Many of the letters represent Edel's ongoing work to acquire copies of Henry James's correspondence and seek out information about the author from his contemporaries. Also includes a number of letters related to various lectures given during the 1960s and 1970s.

Series consists of clippings and off-prints about Edel and other authors including Willa Cather, Ezra Pound, and William Yeats.

Series contains correspondence related to Edel's research on James and inquiries regarding James's correspondence, arranged into alphabetical files by correspondent.

Series consists of various research files created by Edel in the course of his work on Henry James. The majority of files are copies of original sources, such as the diaries of Theodora Bosquanet, James's amanuensis. Includes numerous off-prints related to James's various novels, Edel's notes on James's letters and correspondents, and ephemera such as book jackets and drafts. Many notes, drafts, and miscellany relate to Edith Wharton and Percy Lubbock.

Series consists of correspondence with James family members, including Alice R. James, Dorothea James, Edward H. James, Henry James III, John James, Margaret Mary James (Mrs. Bruce Porter), William James III, Mary James Vaux, and Henry James Vaux.