The Jared French papers contain correspondence, photographs, and other materials documenting the life and career of artist Jared French and a circle of friends and collaborators. Correspondence with individuals and cultural institutions, chiefly museums and galleries, document French's personal and professional affairs, with significant representation from members of the literary and artistic communities in New York during the middle decades of the twentieth century. In addition to large groups of letters from his wife Margaret (Hoening) French, painter Paul Cadmus, and longtime companion Roberto Giannotta, correspondents include members of the French family, Jack Dunphy, E. M. Forster, Edward Hopper, Lincoln Kirstein, George Platt Lynes, Dan Maloney, Bernard Perlin, George Tooker, Carl Van Vechten, Glenway Wescott, Monroe Wheeler, and Donald Windham.
Over 600 photographs in the collection document French's artwork, personal relationships, interests in classical statuary and architecture, and collaborations from roughly the 1930s through 1960s. Photographs from the PaJaMa collective ("Paul, Jared, and Margaret") formed by French with his wife and Cadmus were taken during the 1930s and 1940s on Fire Island, Provincetown, and Nantucket beaches, as well as in Vermont and Hoboken. Photographs include George Tooker, Lincoln and Fidelma Kirstein, Truman Capote, George Platt Lynes, Donald Windham, Jack Dunphy, Monroe Wheeler, and others. In addition to the PaJaMa photographs, there are approximately 250 travel photographs depicting statuary, architecture, and public scenes and events, with groups, travel companions, and friends. More than half the photographs appear to have been taken during the early 1950s in Europe, mostly in Florence, Italy. Others, depicting scenes in Europe, Vermont, New York City, and Coney Island, date from the 1920s through 1940s. People present include Jared and Margaret French, Paul Cadmus, E. M. Forster, Lincoln Kirstein, Osbert Sitwell, and Jensen Yow.