The collection consist of three parts. The first part revolves around Evgeniia Ginzburg. It includes documents, letters, writings, photographs, articles, and miscellaneous items. Many of the documents are originals or official archival copies obtained by Antonina Axenova. The letters consist of originals and photocopied items; they include letters her mother wrote to her while she was in the labor camps, letters from Ginzburg to Antonina Axenova, when the latter was pursuing her career in Krasnoiarsk, and letters between Axenova and such friends of Ginzburg from the camps as Paulina Miasnikova and Tatiana Tretiakova. The writings include Evgeniia Ginzburg's own typescript of the complete Krutoi Marshrut as well as her unpublished poems written from 1937 to 1943. The photographs consist of many original photos of Ginzburg, Axenova, Anton Valter, Vasilii Pavlovich Aksenov, Iulia Karepova, and many others. There are newspaper articles on, for example, the play that was made from Krutoi Marshrut, and the miscellaneous series contains such diverse items as a lock of Evgeniia Ginzburg's hair and the homeopathic text that belonged to Anton Valter.

The second part of the collection revolves around Antonina Axenova. Documents include such items as a copy of her diploma from the theatre institute (imeni A. V. Lunacharskogo) and a performance evaluation for her work in Krasnoiarsk. There are seven scripts with handwritten notes and marginal comments, and various programs and playbills, a number of which are signed and personalized. There is a wide variety of broadsides and posters, advertising plays and repertoires of theatres in Krasnoiarsk, Leningrad, Minsk, and other places. The photographs are primarily those of Axenova in her professional life. There is a small collection of letters, a number of which are restricted. The articles series contains newspaper clippings with reviews of plays in which Axenova performed, film reviews, articles on the director Kama Ginkas, and other items.

The third, much smaller part of the collection, revolves around Vasilii Pavlovich Aksenov. It includes several original, unpublished letters to Antonina Axenova, photographs, newspaper interviews, and articles.

The collection also includes almost 100 books from the libraries of Ginzburg and Axenova. Many of these books have been inscribed by such authors as Ehrenburg, Evtushenko, Okudzhava, Kopelev, Akhmadulina, Voinovich, and others. These books have been cataloged and can be located through the online catalog.

Karepova (1904-1993) became a close friend of Evgeniia Ginzburg's in prison in Iaroslavl; the friendship continued to grow when both were sent to the labor camps in the Kolyma region in the Far East.

Birth certificate issued in 2004 attests to the fact that Vasilii Aksenov was born on August 27, 1932.

Photograph shows Ginzburg full-face and in profile.

Documents cover Valter's history from his arrest on August 20, 1935 until his release on September 7, 1956.

Folder includes two copies of Valter's appeal to the widow of Maxim Gorky after Valter's arrest.

This receipt for shoes signed by Vasilii Aksenov probably came from the case file of E. Ginzburg, when she was re-arrested in October of 1949.

The autobiography written in Ginzburg's own hand came from her case file. It is part of her appeal to the authorities, who have dismissed her from her job at the school in Magadan "without providing any explanation of the reason for the dismissal."

Each leaf is stamped on the back indicating it is an official archival copy.

Appeal to the ministry for re-admission of her son Vasilii Aksenov to the institute of medicine in Kazan.

Charges in the case of Evgeniia Ginzburg were cancelled "za otsytsviem sostava prestupleniia"--"for lack of evidence."

The letters in folders 11, 13, 14, and 15, from Aleksei Fedorov to his grandmother and from Revekka Ginzburg to her daughter, to Anton Valter, and to Iulia Karepova, are photocopies which Sara Babenysheva sent to Antonina Axenova. The location of the originals is unknown at this time.

Aleksei Dmitrievich Fedorov (1926-1942) was Evgeniia Ginzburg's first son. Aleksei died of starvation during the siege of Leningrad.

Folder includes a letter to Antonina Axenova from Gabriel Superfin, who supplied the photocopies from the originals in the Research Centre for East European Studies at the U. of Bremen.

Folder includes a letter from Sara Babenysheva to Antonina Axenova, who indicated that the letter should be dated 1995. Folder also includes a printout of a photo of Babenysheva and family.

Iuliia Karepova figures prominently in Krutoi Marshrut.

Request to leave Magadan from 27 August 1952 to 27 September 1952 to accompany the school-age children to the summer camp.

The sender, Orlova, has not been identified.

The unidentified sender, a friend from Magadan, is responding to Ginzburg's inquiry about the possibility of living in Leningrad after rehabilitation.

Offengenden was an editor for the weekly, Chaian.

Folder includes a note written by Antonina Axenova; however, the sender has not been identified.

Solzhenitsyn's letter to the editors is inscribed "with gratitude" to Ginzburg. signed by Solzhenitsyn, and dated December 18; folder also includes a photo of Solzhenitsyn as well as a photo of Lev Kopelev taken by Solzhenitsyn in Zhavoronki.

The "note receipts" accompanied packages and provided space for a short message or "letter"; at the time of these letters Ginzburg was in Moscow or Peredelkino and Axenova was in Krasnoiarsk or Novorossiisk, pursuing her acting career.

Igor Vvedenskii was a professional photographer, who took many portraits of Ginzburg in both Lvov and Moscow.

Tatiana Sergeevna Tretiakova (ca. 1924-1996) was a friend of Ginzburg's from the labor camps, and she played an important role in Axenova's life as well; folder includes Axenova's note which provides some biographical background and explains relationships.

Locations of correspondents vary; for example, Axenova receives mail from her mother in Petrozavodsk, Leningrad, Cheliabinsk, Bolshaia Alushta, and Minsk.

Natalia Ginzburg (circa 1912-1984) was Evgeniia's younger sister and Antonina Axenova's aunt.

Two of the postcards are addressed to Vvedenskii in Lvov and one to him in Leningrad; folder includes a brief note by Axenova.

David Yakovlevich Dar (1910-1980) was a Russian writer who later emigrated to Jerusalem.

Locations of correspondents vary: Leningrad, Anapa, Yalta, Riga.

Paulina S. Miasnikova (1910-2012) was a friend of Evgeniia Ginzburg from the labor camps. Later she played herself in the theatrical adaptation of Krutoi Marshrut directed by Galina Volchek.