The papers of Kirk Douglas have been arranged in seven series: Correspondence and Personal Papers, Financial and Business Records, Motion Pictures - Produced, Motion Pictures - Unproduced, Television, Theater, and Radio. The collection illustrates some aspects of Douglas's personal life, but is primarily concerned with his career as an actor and producer. Douglas himself has pointed out that his papers demonstrate the collaborative effort of filmmaking; the collection illustrates the parts writers, directors, producers, and actors play in putting a film together. In addition, the collection contains a few records of production and acting work of Michael Douglas, usually in conjunction with Bryna Productions.

CORRESPONDENCE AND PERSONAL PAPERS consist of general business letters from 1948 to 1978, with some personal letters and fan mail included. There are a few files concerning particular individuals with whom Douglas worked, a folder concerning his son Joel, and a folder of Kirk Douglas biographical materials. Further information regarding Douglas and his career may be found in The Films of Kirk Douglas, a draft book manuscript by Tony Thomas, written about 1971. In his book, Thomas presents brief critical synopses of Douglas's films, with cast and staff lists. The remainder of the series includes programs and other papers from dinners, awards celebrations, and dedications attended by Kirk Douglas. (Correspondence relating to a particular production can be found in the other series in the collection, filed under the title of the production.)

The second series in the collection, FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS RECORDS, includes some personal information relating to Kirk and Anne Douglas, but the bulk of the material pertains to Bryna Productions. There are balance sheets, payroll reports, reports of employment contracts, and information regarding literary properties. Much of the material dates from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s. There are also folders regarding Joel Productions and Peter Vincent Music Corporation, separate companies formed by Kirk Douglas.

The major portion of the Kirk Douglas papers has been organized into the two series MOTION PICTURES - PRODUCED and MOTION PICTURES - UNPRODUCED. Materials have been grouped by production title, and each production organized chronologically by release date, or if unproduced, by date of creation of the records. Within each title materials have been grouped alphabetically by type of record. Both films in which Douglas acted (only) and which he also produced, are documented in these series. Within the Motion Pictures - Unproduced files are several folders containing only scripts, which appear to have been sent to Douglas for his consideration for production; often it is difficult to determine how and from whom these materials were acquired by Douglas.

For Douglas's early films--when he functioned independently, under contract to no major studio--there is often only a script present. Beginning with Act of Love (1953) and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), however, the documentation is more comprehensive and usually includes correspondence, employment contracts, and financial records, as well as scripts. Films produced by Bryna Productions are especially well represented, with additional files of financial information, technical production papers, promotion and distribution records, and newsclippings of reviews, also included. For many of Douglas's and Bryna Productions' later films, distribution information and financial reports are fragmentary. There are also smaller files regarding motion pictures Douglas did not star in, but in which Stan Margulies, his publicity chief, or Edward Lewis, his producer, participated: Thunder Road, Ride Out for Revenge, Grand Prix, Hawaii, and The Gypsy Moths.

Indian Fighter (1955) is the first of the Bryna films; others which are well documented are Spring Reunion (1957), The Careless Years (1957), Lizzie (1957), The Vikings (1958), Spartacus (1960), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Seven Days in May (Joel Productions, 1964), Summertree (1971), Scalawag (1973), and Posse (1975). Other noteworthy films include Paths of Glory, which shows the early genius of director Stanley Kubrick; The Vikings and Posse, which detail the work of Douglas as leading man and producer in two of Bryna Productions' most successful films; and Spartacus, with extensive documentation showing all of these facets, as well as Douglas's breaking of the blacklist when he hired Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay. The records of Scalawag also illustrate the recent shift of film companies to foreign countries for location filming; in this case there are several files concerning Bryna Productions' cooperation with Italian and Yugoslav personnel and film organizations.

In addition to motion pictures, Bryna was also involved in TELEVISION production. Three of Bryna's motion pictures were planned for production as television specials or series, Tales of the Vikings (from The Vikings), Indian Fighter, and Spartacus, although the latter two never were produced. For these series documentation includes correspondence, financial records, production and promotional files, and scripts for specific episodes. Other files in this series pertain to Douglas's appearances on television interview shows, and specials; made-for-television movies, and more recently, television mini-series. Similar types of records are available for these shows, which span the period 1950 to 1976, although some files are incomplete. Among the more recent productions represented is The Moneychangers (1976).

The series concerning THEATER and RADIO primarily contain scripts from performances by Kirk Douglas. The Radio files date from the late 1940s, and include scripts of adaptations of two of Douglas's films, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers and The Champion. Among the Theater files are also scripts and correspondence regarding plays perhaps considered for production as motion pictures. Of interest in this series are the records of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, in which Kirk Douglas starred on Broadway in 1963-1964, and which was later produced by his son, Michael Douglas. Partial records of both productions are present in the Theater series.