The collection contains Level's manuscript, illustrations, research materials, and correspondence for his Sports and Pastimes of the Presidents project, which he appears to have worked on persistently in the early 1960s. Level was not a historian, but he corresponded extensively with repositories and individuals to learn as much as he could of the recreational preferences of the presidents, from Washington to Lyndon Johnson. Topics entertained include athletic sports (as participant and spectator); field sports; forms of physical exercise; games; and broader leisure activities like reading. Series 1 contains typescript drafts of Level's text, organized into sections on the individual presidents and on various sports and recreational activities. Numerous drafts of these "chapters" are often present; the typical length of a chapter on a given president is 4-5 pages. There are no notes. Series 2 and 3 contain book chapters, articles, pamphlets, clippings, correspondence, and photographs and other illustrations assembled by Level in the course of his research, arranged by president or activity. Originally in the collection were two disbound scrapbooks with similar material, mostly clippings, affixed to the leaves; these were not retained. Among the illustrations, the most notable item is a copy of the 1860 Currier and Ives lithograph The National Game, showing Lincoln and the other candidates as baseball players.