This series contains correspondence, between Matthews and numerous political, intellectual, and artistic figures of the twentieth-century world, that documents Matthews' journalism and the relationships he forged with many of these individuals through his work. The bulk of the correspondence, which also includes interview transcripts and notes, is related to Matthews' reporting and editorials on Latin America, and particularly Cuba, for the in the 1950s and 1960s. This includes most notably Matthews' notes from his famous interview with Fidel Castro in the Sierra Maestra in 1957, an interview with Fulgencio Batista, and correspondence with Ernest Hemingway. Also included are letters from Ruby Hart Phillips, a correspondent in Cuba. The last folder in this series contains photocopies of correspondence with notable individuals, including Eleanor Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, and Nelson Rockefeller.

Other correspondence related to Matthews' coverage of Latin America includes communications with various Latin American presidents, such as Romulo Betancourt of Venezuela, Francois Duvalier of Haiti, and Juscelino Kubitschek of Brazil.

This large series consists of material related to the Cuban Revolution and its aftermath, both in Cuba and the United States. These documents chart Matthews' life after his reports on the Revolution, particularly his celebrated 1957 article announcing the survival and progress of Fidel Castro and his guerrillas whom the dictatorship claimed had been defeated. This part of the Matthews Papers represents a considerable collection of material from Cuban revolutionaries and the revolutionary government, including statements and publications. The American reaction to the Cuban Revolution is present here in responses to Matthews' writing for the This series also contains manuscripts and notes for Matthews' several books on the Cuban revolution.

The correspondence in the series, much of which is related to the Cuban Revolution and Matthews' journalism on this subject, includes letters from Matthews and his wife, Nancie Matthews, regarding developments in Cuba in 1959; letters between Matthews and historian Theodore Draper, some of which were reprinted in Draper's book, (1962); letters from Ernest and Martha Hemingway; communications from the and congratulatory and critical letters from Matthews' readers. Also here are personal items, including travel documents, and a number of photographs of Fidel Castro and Matthews in Cuba in the 1950s and 1960s, some of which were published.

The largest part of the Cuba series holds assorted research materials collected and used by Matthews for his reporting and his manuscripts. These include an atlas published by the Cuban revolutionary government, books, clippings from a variety of periodicals in the United States, Cuba, and Latin America, including clippings regarding Matthews himself. Publications and statements issued between 1955 and 1968 by the United States and Cuban governments and their agencies, the July 26 Movement and other rebel groups, and other individuals and groups. This part of the series provides a wealth of historical documents regarding Cuba, relations between Cuba and the United States, and the response in American society to the Cuban Revolution and Matthews' reporting in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Matthews' various writings on Cuba and the revolution make up the final portion of this series, and include articles written for periodicals, addresses, and manuscripts, notes, and reviews for Matthews' books: (1961), (1969), and (1975). Also contained here are materials, written about Matthews by the United States and Cuban press, which indicate the diversity and severity of reactions to Matthews' coverage of the Cuban Revolution. Included are notes from conversations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding an alleged plot to assassinate Matthews.

This series contains Herbert L. Matthews' correspondence with his family and the personal papers of several relatives. Matthews' correspondence to his brother John L. Matthews constitutes the bulk of the correspondence and conveys Herbert Matthews' perspectives and opinions on many American and world events from the mid-1940s to his retirement after 1967 and into the 1970s. John L. Matthews' papers on World War I, his writings, and family photographs provide information about the life of Herbert Matthews' brother.

Also notable is Nancie Matthews' journal of life with her husband and their children in fascist Italy between 1940 and their expulsion in 1942. This is a rich source of information regarding the life of American journalists and their families in Europe in these first years of World War II. Other folders in this series contain material about Herbert's oldest brother, Hilliard H. Matthews, and his service in World War I, and the service and death of Robert Alan Matthews, Herbert's nephew, in World War II.

This series documents more than three decades of correspondence and editorial writing by Matthews for the his employer from 1922 to 1967. Generally these folders include notes, ephemera, periodicals and other printed material used for research, and Matthews' original dispatches to the , not all of which were published.

Material on the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) includes a collection of official maps issued and used by the Italian military, Matthews' personal bag, and a press armband issued by the Italian government. Material on the Spanish Civil War contains numerous photographs and publications issued by the Abraham Lincoln Brigades, and critics and sympathizers of the Republicans. Materials related to Matthews' subsequent reporting in Italy from 1939 to 1942, and in Italy during and after the Allied invasion in 1943, include Matthews' interviews with philosopher Benedetto Croce and newspapers published by partisans and other anti-fascist forces. In reporting about World War II in Europe, Matthews noted the widespread destruction of art and the Allies' attempts to mitigate the damaging of Europe's cultural legacy; a folder retains his notes and writings on this subject. Notes from the 1960s record the content of conversations between Matthews and John F. Kennedy and officials in his administration, as well as conversations with Johnson administration officials, regarding U.S foreign policy, particularly towards Latin America and Cuba. Finally, this series contains scrapbooks of editorials authored by Matthews between 1949 and 1967; created and donated by the

This brief series contains a disparate array of documents, papers and photographs about Matthews' life within and beyond his career as a journalist. This section includes materials related to Matthews' life-long interest in Italian history, culture, and thought, begun while a student at Columbia University, such as files on Columbia professor Dino Bigongiari and Matthews' support for the university's Casa Italiana in the 1960s. This section also holds various personal documents such as passports and journalist identification cards from Matthews' entire career as a journalist. Photographs, including photographs of Matthews in World War I, and a folder of material regarding the work of Spanish artist Luis Quintanilla, who served the Republican government in the Spanish Civil War, also are included here.

This large series records the multitude of books, articles, and addresses written by Herbert L. Matthews, and some material written about Matthews, not otherwise found in previous sections of the Matthews papers. Included are manuscripts, and often correspondence and notes for, and reviews of, his books: (1938), (1943), (1946), (1950), (1957), (1971), and (1973). Also notable here is an unpublished manuscript written by Matthews in the 1970s, "Valediction"; and the transcript of an episode of the television show, "The Big Story," recounting Matthews' celebrated reports of March, 1955, concerning student politics under the Peronist dictatorship in Argentina.