The records document the organization and activity of the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists Abroad, a Russian emigre organization, active between 1920 and 1941. The headquarters of the Union was in Paris. The chairman of the Union in France was P. N. Miliukov and its secretary was V. F. Zeeler. The Union had branches in Belgrade, Berlin, Prague and Warsaw. This collection includes some of the records of these branches as well as the records of the First Congress of the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists Abroad which took place in Belgrade in 1928.

The goals of the Union of Russian Writers and Journalists Abroad were to help Russian writers abroad to publish their works, to provide financial assistance for writers in need, and to celebrate significant events in Russian intellectual life. Consequently, the collection consists of applications for financial assistance from writers, applications from prospective members, certificates, minutes of meetings, and programs of social functions (e.g. the celebration of I. Bunin's Nobel Prize).

The largest series of the collection is the correspondence with leading Russian intellectuals. The collection contains more than 50 items from such Russian intellectuals as Adamovich, Aldanov, Annenkov, Nabokov, Remizov, Tsvetaeva and Zaitsev.

Since V. F. Zeeler was an active member of different Russian institutions abroad, the collection also includes the records of related institutions; the International Society of Journalists (1931), the Community of the Don-Kuban-Terek Citizens (1922-1923), the Kuban Regional Government (1923-1924), the Committee of Russian Refugee in France (1931), the Russian Pedagogical Museum in Paris (1934), and the Russian Cultural and Historical Museum in Prague (1934).