The first series, Writings, is divided into prose, poetry, reviews by Mathews, translations, and other. Mathews' prose writings are arranged alphabetically by title of the work and often contain manuscript notebooks, drafts, and corrected typescripts. The manuscript notebooks may be of particular interest as they clearly show Mathews' writing process as well as changes made during the writing of the work. These manuscript notebooks occassionally contain sketches, word puzzles, or other notes that are potentially unrelated to the main literary work of the notebook. In addition to Mathews' novels, essays, and story collections, prose writings includes tributes and memorials to Mathews' friends and colleagues, in particular, James Merrill, Georges Perec, George Plimpton, Raymond Queneau, and Jacques Vivien.

Mathews' poetry is arranged alphabetically by title of the poem. Researchers will find a variety of formats from handwritten notes on scraps of paper, to typescipts, to copies of a published poem.

Reviews by Mathews are arranged alphabetically by author of the work being reviewewed. As with Mathews' other writings, researchers will find handwritten notes, typescripts, and, often, copies of the published article.

Mathews' translations of others' works are arranged alphabetically by the author of the original work. Mathews appears to have worked extensively with authors Marie Chaix (his wife) and Georges Perec (his friend and mentor).

Mathews' writing often branched out into other artistic endeavors, including artwork and music. When the work associated with the artwork or musical composition was known, the music and artwork is filed with that title; otherwise, researchers will find these works filed in Other.

Correspondence (restricted from use unless permission is granted by Mathews) that was filed with literary works was not separated. Therefore, researchers interested in restricted folders in this series should email the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rarebooks, and Manuscripts for immediate access to selected portions of the folders and/or for permission to view correspondence.

The second series, Publicity and promotion, is divided into events (bookreadings, lectures, etc.), interviews, articles about Mathews, images, publication logistics, and reviews of Mathews' works. Events (bookreadings, lectures, etc.) is arranged chronologically. These files generally include fliers, programs, and/or posters advertising the event. Very rarely, there are notes for a talk given by Mathews or any other personal observation of the event. This group of material provides a very detailed glimpse into Mathews' influence on the literary community. Researchers interested in the events in which Mathews participated are advised to consult the undated folders since many of the event fliers contained only a month and day.

Interviews are arranged alphabetically by interviewer and generally contain drafts or corrected typescripts of the interviews. Occasionally, only the published version is contained within this collection. Correspondence (restricted from use unless permission is granted by Mathews) that was filed with the interviews was not separated. Therefore, researchers interested in the interviews contained within restricted folders should email the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rarebooks, and Manuscripts for immediate access to selected portions of the folders and/or for permission to view correspondence.

Articles about Mathews consists of published articles and are arranged alphabetically by the author of the article. This group of material, like the events, demonstrates Mathews' influence in the literary world.

Researchers will find very few photographs in the collection, but those that do exist are located in Images. These photographs were taken by a professional photographer for publicity purposes. There are also a few self-portraits drawn by Mathews.

Publication logistics includes reports on sales, book jackets, publisher advertisements, contracts and royalty statements, financial records, and correspondence (restricted from use unless permission is granted by Mathews). This group of material is arranged alphabetically.

The final group of records in this series, Reviews of Mathews' works, is arranged alphabetically by title of work. Researchers will find published articles clipped from journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Series III. Research notes includes notes, photocopies of articles, and other research relating to wide-ranging topics. Of particular interest may be the folders on alphabets, word lists and translations, and word tricks and labrynths and mazes which may relate closely to his work with the Oulipo. Files are arranged alphabetically by topic and the titles of folders were generally provided by Mathews himself.

Mathews' work as a teacher and workshop leader are documented in Series IV. Teaching and workshops. Mathews worked extensively at Bennington College in Vermont teaching creative writing and leading seminars in writing. He led workshops at Brown University, Hamilton College, Key West Writing Workshop, and Shakespeare and Company. The bulk of these records appear to be Mathews' teaching notebooks which provide the structure of the class or workshop as well as notes relating to topics to address and discussion points. Of particular interest may be the folder titled "Mask Process" in which Mathews' method for relaxing and getting into the mood for writing is broken down into steps. In association with Mathews' manuscript notebooks in Series I, the teaching notebooks in this series provide an insight into Mathews' writing methodology.

The Harry Mathews papers contain a small amount of writing by others. These drafts, typescripts, and, on occasion, published pamphlets are arranged alphabetically by author and may have been sent to Mathews for review, critique, or advice. It is also possible that Mathews simply liked the author's work.

Correspondence (restricted from use unless permission is granted by Mathews) that was filed with these works was not separated. Therefore, researchers interested in restricted folders in this series should email the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rarebooks, and Manuscripts for immediate access to selected portions of the folders and/or for permission to view correspondence.

Mathews' extensive correspondence is arranged alphabetically by Mathews' correspondents. This series is restricted from use unless permission is granted by Harry Mathews. To request permission to access to folders in this series, email the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rarebooks, and Manuscripts.

Prior to processing in 2016 (possibly at the time of acquisition), the correspondence was alphabetized and placed in folders. In some cases, correspondence by an indivual was filed in two places: by name and also by the organization for which they worked. This was not done consistently and it is unclear if the decision was based upon Harry Mathews' oringial order. In case this order was imposed by Mathews, the inconsistencies have been maintained, but the individual correspondents writing for an organization have been listed following the organization's name. Researchers interested in a specific individual should be certain to perform a keyword search or to look for organizations with which that individual was associated.

The bulk of the correspondence is addressed to Harry Mathews, however, there are sometimes hand-written drafts of letters written by Mathews. Although every correspondent is listed, it is important for researchers to understand that not all of these correspondents provide significant content and, in fact, many correspondents sent only a birthday card or a postcard each year for many years. Some correspondents (this list is not exhaustive) with significant content include: Gloria Adelson, John Ashbery, Betsy Baker, Catherine Binet, Joe Brainard, Lynn Crawford, Tamar Getter, Todd Grimson, Maxine Groffsky, Georges Guy, Richard Hennessy, Rust and Joy Hills, Tom King, Kenneth Koch, Bianca Lamblin, Joseph McElroy, Bill McPherson, James Merrill, Warren Motte, Charles North, Monique and Paul Otchakovsky-Laurens, Tina Packer, Ron Padgett, Georges Perec, George Plimpton, Raffi Rubenstein, Niki de Sainte-Phalle, James Schuyler, Dorthea Tanning, Lynne Tillman, Fred and Simone Warner, Trevor Winkfield, and Rob Wittig. There is also significant correspondence between Mathews and his parents, Edward and Mary Mathews; his grandparents, Henry and Candida Burchell; as well as the women with whom he was romantically involved: Anne Hollander, Elyette Héliès, Maxine Groffsky who served as an editior at Random House and as Mathews' agent, and Loredana Balboni.

Researchers interested in Locus Solus should consult the correspondence folders of John Ashbery, Walter Auerbach, Kenneth Koch, and James Schuyler.