The papers of Hannah Arendt (1906-1975) span the period 1898-1977, with the bulk of the material beginning in 1948, three years prior to her naturalization as an American citizen. The collection is organized in the following series: Family Papers, Correspondence, Adolf Eichmann File, Subject File, Speeches and Writings File, Clippings, Addition I, Addition II, Addition III, and Oversize. Rich in manuscripts and correspondence for Arendt's productive years as a writer and lecturer after World War II, the papers are sparse before the mid-1940s because of Arendt's forced departure from Nazi Germany in 1933 and her escape from occupied France in 1941. Exceptions to the lack of documentation for the first part of her life include a few notebooks and writings, several official and private records relating mainly to her divorce, family history, and emigration, and a small group of personal correspondence with her second husband, Heinrich Blücher, some of whose letters and unpublished writings can be found in the Family Papers series. Much of the material is in German and other European languages.

Born Johanna Cohn Arendt, Arendt later used the name Blücher for domestic identification. She studied with Karl Jaspers at Heidelberg University, but her career was diverted from teaching and writing for more than a decade as a result of Adolf Hitler's rise to power and the subsequent persecution of the Jews. While in France and for several years in the United States, she worked as a welfare agent in charge of aiding Jews and as a journalist for various Jewish political and social organizations. Her papers document her support for the creation of a Palestinian homeland for Jews until 1948, when she dissented from certain Israeli policies.

The largest portion of these papers consists of the Correspondence series subdivided under General Correspondence, Organizations, Publishers, and Universities and Colleges headings. The material traces Arendt's intellectual, social, and professional life from the late 1940s to her death. Though not a prolific letter writer, Arendt corresponded with men and women of letters throughout Europe and America, often for the purpose of granting a reference or arranging conference and lecture dates, but just as frequently to exchange thoughts and ideas. Her correspondents include obscure as well as renowned members of the literary and academic community, many of whom sent her manuscripts in tribute to her intellectual influence or to solicit her comments. Among the prominent names appearing in the General Correspondence are poets W. H. Auden, Randall Jarrell, Robert Lowell, and Stephen Spender; historians Joachim C. Fest and Carl J. Friedrich; and writers Alfred Kazin, Dwight MacDonald, Mary McCarthy, and David Riesman. Readers should note that Arendt often typed replies on the reverse side of the original letters that she received.

Among the correspondence pertaining to organizations, publishers, and universities and colleges are occasional personal jottings from individuals who wrote in an official capacity but were her friends and acquaintances as well. Among their letters is correspondence with publishers and editors, especially Robert B. Silvers of the William Shawn of the and William Jovanovich of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, and with Saul Bellow and other faculty members at the University of Chicago where Arendt was a professor and graduate student adviser on the Committee on Social Thought.

The Adolf Eichmann File deals with what was perhaps Arendt's most prominent and controversial work, Subtitled Arendt's conclusions about the nature and character of totalitarian rule in Nazi Germany, plus her interpretation of the Jewish response to the Holocaust, prompted a strenuous and often emotional debate recorded in folders containing book reviews, articles, and letters to the editors of the and the Also in the Eichmann files is material which Arendt collected while covering the Nazi leader's trial in Jerusalem in 1961, including incomplete but extensive copies of the English and German transcripts of the trial's proceedings, copies of the final ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court, and several files of notes and miscellaneous background information. Drafts and related material for are located in the Speeches and Writings series.

The Subject File chiefly treats Arendt's role as a teacher and lecturer as reflected in the courses she taught at such institutions as the New School for Social Research, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Chicago, among others. Numerous copies of lectures and seminar notes by Arendt include "Kant's Political Philosophy" delivered at both the New School and the University of Chicago. Also included is material relating to Arendt's students as well as contracts and royalties for her publications.

The Speeches and Writings File spans the years 1923-1975. Arendt's doctoral dissertation, issued by Springer Verlag in 1929, is present in the original published version and in a manuscript of an English translation, Also in this series are various drafts of lectures and chapters incorporated into Arendt's two-volume work on published posthumously in 1978. Other book-length manuscripts include the first and final drafts of the first and final corrected copies of with additional drafts of the German translation; and Essays and lectures are also in the Speeches and Writings series in addition to the lectures and seminar notes in the Subject File folders designated "Courses." Research material arranged by topic is filed under "Extracts and Notes" in the Speeches and Writings series.

Addition I supplements the Speeches and Writings series with extensive material pertaining to the publication of including drafts annotated by the work's editor, Mary McCarthy. A small group of lectures is also contained in this addition. Addition II includes correspondence from Arendt to Heinrich Blücher and a notebook kept by Arendt's mother recording Arendt's development as a child.

In addition to the correspondents noted above, the Arendt Papers include letters to and from Hanan J. Ayalti (pen name of Hanan Klenbort), Walter Benjamin, Rosalie Littell Colie, Robert and Elke Gilbert, J. Glenn Gray, Waldemar Gurian, Rolf Hochhuth, Hans Jonas, Lotte Kohler, Judah Leon Magnes, Hans Joachim Morgenthau, Ruth H. Rosenau, Gershom Gerhard Scholem, Paul Tillich, Eric Voegelin, Ernst Vollrath, Anne Weil, and Helen and Kurt Wolff.

Lotte Kohler's (Munich: Piper, 1996) was consulted for assistance in arranging of the correspondence between Arendt and Heinrich Blücher in the Family Papers series.