The Max Ewing Papers consist of correspondence, writings, sheet music, photographic prints and negatives, photograph albums, scrapbooks, diaries, sound recordings, writings of others, notebooks, printed material, personal papers, and a sculpture. Correspondence includes letters from Ewing to his parents, general correspondence with friends and family, and third party correspondence regarding Ewing. Writings contain autograph manuscript and typescript drafts and printed versions of short stories, poems, essays, and other writings, including typescript drafts, corrected, of Ewing's novel, Going Somewhere. Sheet music contains printed and manuscript music by Ewing. Photographs in the collection are from Ewing's "Gallery of Extraordinary Portraits," "Carnival of Venice," Les amants de Venice," and subjects include Ewing's family and friends. The scrapbooks were made and kept by Ewing and contain reproductions of photographs of notable artists and celebrities; articles by or on Ewing, concerning his professional life as a music editor, musician, photographer, and writer; and reviews of Going Somewhere. Sound recordings are two aluminum instantaneous phonodiscs, "Speak-O-Phone personal phonographs," made by Max Ewing with Berenice Abbott and Doris Ewing. Other papers include Ewing's parents' marriage certificate, diaries, notebooks, legal documents, lists of books read by Ewing, printed material, writings on Ewing by others, and an unidentified head sculpted in clay.
All material was a gift of Doris Ewing, 1943, unless otherwise noted.