In-coming as well as out-going correspondence was arranged by Lee in various runs. Filed at the beginning is a chronological series of files containing letters from 1967-1972. One file contains job offers from various universities in 1969-70 while another file relates to correspondence around his job offer at the University of Toronto. Apart from job offers, most of the correspondence is with colleagues world wide and is of both a professional and personal nature. Much of the early correspondence relates to field trips to the Kalahari and related research.
The second run of files is general alphabetical files with correspondence dating from about 1970 to 1975. Again this correspondence relates mainly to Prof. Lee’s research and is from colleagues and students. It includes comments on his publications and routine requests for information and advice, requests to attend seminar and talks and other professional meetings, as well as Prof. Lee’s reports or comments as a peer reviewer of papers. There are also letters of recommendation, reviews of theses and general correspondence documenting his role as a teacher.
A third run is an alphabetical run of files arranged by the correspondent. Correspondence is similar in nature to the general alphabetical files described above but is more voluminous for each person and covers a time period mainly from 1965-1975 with the bulk dating from the late 1960s to 1972. Included is correspondence with well known anthropologists such as Carl Heider (Brown University / University of Southern California), Adam Kuper (University College, London), Mary Leakey, Sidney Mintz (Yale University), Julian Steward (Colombia / University of Illinois), Sherwood Washburn (Harvard University and Lee’s advisor) and Eric Wolf (City University of New York).
Finally, Prof. Lee himself arranged a small run of correspondence files from famous people or people influential in his professional development. They include people such as Margaret Atwood and Carl Sagan as well as fellow anthropologists Philip Tobias and Bruce Trigger.
In addition to the correspondence from the 2007 donation, there is a grouping of correspondence from the 2012 addition. This is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, with occasional subject file as designated by Lee. Many of the earlier correspondents appear in this section again.