Correspondence, speeches, writings, journal, interviews, scripts, notes, legal and financial papers, awards, biographical material, clippings, photographs, and other papers documenting Michener's literary career, his interest in politics, his art collection, and the adaptation of his works for stage and screen. Includes drafts, notes, background material, and other papers relating to Tales of the South Pacific (1947), The Fires of Spring (1949), The Floating World (1954), Hawaii (1959), The Source (1965), The Drifters (1971), Kent State; What Happened and Why (1971), and other published and unpublished works. Also documented are his association with the Asia Foundation, his newspaper reports from Korea in 1952, his support of John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, his unsuccessful campaign for U.S. representative from Pennsylvania in 1962, his affiliation with the Pennsylvania Commission for Legislative Modernization, his coverage of Richard M. Nixon's visit to China in 1972, and his membership on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information (1970-1976).

Correspondents include David Adickes, Pearl S. Buck, Bennett Cerf, Albert Erskine, Oscar Hammerstein, Teddy Kollek, Hobart D. Lewis, Joshua Logan, Richard Rodgers, David O. Selznick, Helen M. Strauss, and Herman Wouk.