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The collection consists of a variety of French, English, and American documents that span from the late thirteenth century to the year 1950.

This autograph and miscellany collection created by Christian Sixtus Hutter consists of miscellaneous material ranging from circa 1602 to 1945 and includes autographs, correspondence, government documents, financial and legal documents, military documents, and telegrams, chiefly from the United States and Great Britain, but also including some material from continental Europe. While most of the collection is in the English language, there are a number of documents in French, German, Spanish, and Dutch. This material was formerly stored in the Hutter cabinets when Special Collections was located in Alderman Library, and consists of material which could not be matched with known Hutter accession numbers. Autographs include those of royalty, such as George I, George III, and George IV; theologians, ministers, and religious leaders; nobility, chiefly English; jurists, lawyers, and judges; family correspondence; and public officials.

The Christopher A. Dorrance collection consists primarily of original autographs of important and/or famous people of the United States of America from its founding to the early 21st century. The subjects of the autographs include presidents and first ladies, government officials, political and military figures, musicians, authors, actresses and actors, athletes, reformers and civil rights era activists, foreign leaders and celebrities, flyers and people associated with aviation and aeronautics, etc. The autographs in this collection are written on various mediums including, framed posters, official documents, photographs, books, cards, letters, and various forms of paper ephemera. The series titles reflect what the donor prescribed to his collection. The one change made at the discretion of the archivist was to change the word "foreign" to "international." The signatures were originally housed in three ring binders. The order established by the donor has been maintained. Several signatures are part of larger manuscript pieces, such as letters or ephemeral items such as programs.

The collection also contains miscellaneous manuscripts and account books. Included in this material are: land grants, 1761 and 1766, for land in Fairfax and Frederick counties, Va.; eighty-five survey maps of Frederick, Fauquier, and Loudoun counties, Va. and Berkeley and Hampshire counties, W. Va.; road petitions, 1743-1828, for Frederick County; affidavits for Revolutionary War service; correspondence, 1923-1930, of the Improved Order of Redmen, Great Council of Virginia; letters written to W. H. H. Flick; account books of merchants in Frederick County, , Lexington, Va. and Harrisonburg, Va.; and account books of the Richmond Whig (1837), the Lexington Gazette; and the Southern Collegian (student newspaper at Washington and Lee College). There is also a daybook which contains copies of letters, notes and bonds written by Philip Nelson to Powhatan R. Page; notes on the Washington and Custis families and the building of "Arlington"; and notes concerning John Randolph of Roanoke and the Underwood Constitutional Convention in Richmond.