The papers feature correspondence and personal papers relating chiefly to author Edith Wharton, including over 130 letters to Bahlmann from Wharton, dating from her employment with the Wharton family in 1874, as Edith's German language tutor, to 1915. The letters document a significant, long-standing relationship and shed light on Wharton's personal and literary affairs. In addition to the Wharton correspondence, there are single and small groups of letters between Bahlmann and family members, friends, and acquaintances, including William Morton Fullerton and Henry James, and a small number of third-party letters. Bahlmann's personal papers include legal and financial documents, notebooks, and writings, as well as material relating to Edith Wharton. Other materials relating directly to Wharton include clippings, documents on her efforts during the war, a pressed lily, photographs, postcards, and a small sachet. Photographs consist of studio portraits of people and images of Wharton's residences. There are photographs of Wharton, dating from 1900 to 1905, family, and friends, including Mary Cadwalader Jones and Pauline Robinson. Wharton residences include "Reef Point" in Bar Harbour, Maine, 884 Park Avenue in New York, and the estate ("The Mount") in Lenox, Massachusetts.