The Biographical series, 1939-1999 (1 linear ft.), consists of materials related to Wolf's life, including his curriculum vitae, a number of interviews in which he reflected on his life and work as an anthropologist, documentation related to a number of honors and awards he received, and professional involvement. These materials provide an introduction to Eric Wolf as well as the scope of his work.
The Correspondence series, 1933-2011 (3.2 linear ft.), is divided into five subseries: Alphabetical, Chronological, Collected, Family, and Topical. This arrangement reflects the arrangement of the correspondence as Wolf used it, with the exception of the subseries Collected correspondence, which contains correspondence actively solicited by Wolf's wife after his death. It is unclear whether this correspondence is duplicated within Wolf's own alphabetical and chronological files. In some cases, it appears that correspondence was placed in Wolf's alphabetical and chronological files after his death. The researcher should note that the correspondence in the alpha files is not exhaustive of Wolf's correspondence with individuals and that additional correspondence may be contained in his chronological file. Similarly, correspondents not outlined in the alphabetical files may be included elsewhere in the chronological files. Of particular note is Wolf's correspondence with his parents, which was often written from the field and is of a more personal vein; as well as correspondence with fellow anthropologists Sidney Mintz, Roger McConochie, and Harald Prins. Correspondence received in the 2005 accession was blended into these categories as well.