This collection includes correspondence, manuscripts (lectures and articles), research grant material, research data, and participation in organizations, such as, the American Society of Naturalists (President, 1968), Genetics Society of America (President, 1963), and the National Research Council. Of particular note, are the detailed data related to Drosophila eye pigment, and human chromosomes.

This collection of correspondence and documents focuses on Roughton's prolific life's work on respiratory physiology. His specific work at Cambridge University from the 1920s to the 1960s, as well as interludes in the U. S. during World War II, are covered, as is the scientific milieu in which he worked. Some of the subjects or organizations for which there are documents, are: Bermuda and Naples Zoological Research Stations; British Glue and Gelatin Research Assoc.; Biochemical Journal; Cambridge Philosophical Society; Cambridge University Departments of Physiology (pre-1939) and Colloid Science (post-1940); Harvard Fatique Lab.; Medical research Council; Trinity College Cambridge.

The correspondence in this collection concerns behavior genetics, evolution, heredity, etc. There is material relating to the congresses of the Permanent International Committee on Genetics, and the IXth (Bellagio, 1953), Xth (Montreal, 1958), and XIth (The Hague, 1963) International Congress of Genetics. There is also correspondence pertaining to the Cold Spring Harbor Symposium on Quantitative Biology (1955), the Mendel Semi-Centennial Symposium (1950), the Soviet geneticists' visit to the U.S. in 1967, and to Anton R. Zhebrak.

The collection includes three accessions: (1) a portion of Lewontin's correspondence files (mainly A-L) and copies of papers acquired in 1979; (2) a 2003 accession with files on various subjects and correspondence with about 30 colleagues, and (3) a substantial 2018 accession of about 60 linear feet that includes correspondence, manuscripts, and subject files. The topics discussed in the letters are numerous, including much on contemporary scientific controversies such as race, Darwin, evolution, intelligence, and biological determinism.