The collection consists of correspondence, diaries, notebooks, handwritten notes from talks, a large amount of research notes, cuttings, handbills, leaflets, translations, photographs and poetry. It covers such organisations as the Communist Party of Australia, the Australian Labor Party, the Revolutionary Socialist Alliance, the Revolutionary Workers League, the Victorian Labour League, the Congress for Friendship and Aid to the Soviet Union, the Fourth International and the Seamen's Union. Other topics covered are conscription, the Vietnam War and the Spanish Civil War. There are also essays and biographical notes and cuttings on such people as H. Alwyn Lee, Baracchi's father (Pietro Baracchi), E.T. Brown, Percy Laidler and Victoria Cramp.