The Janice Kidwell Papers consist of correspondence, memorabilia, biographical information, photographs, and a photograph album. The collection primarily reflects her activities as a student at Mount Holyoke College from 1948-1952. In fourteen letters that she wrote to her parents during her senior year she discusses going on dates, attending dinners and dances, and other aspects of her social life; academic concerns; personal finances; various friendships; impending decisions about career choices; and family matters. Another letter from 1951 refers to her selection as House President for her dorm and includes a clipping about her from the "Mount Holyoke News." Most photographs in the collection (including many of those in the photograph album) also date from her College years: there are photographs of Kidwell on Mountain Day expeditions with classmates, snapshots of the Class of 1952 Junior Show and several photographs of campus buildings and scenes. Other photographs taken during a spring vacation trip to the Bermuda Islands in April 1951 show Kidwell and other passengers on a cruise ship and people and places on the islands; there is also a color postcard of a street scene in St. George's, Bermuda. In addition, the collection includes snapshots of the Class of 1952 at a reunion, possibly in 1987, and formal portraits of Kidwell taken while at College and in 1985. Memorabilia in the collection consists of a program for one-act plays performed by students in 1951 and a clipping concerning Kidwell's Bermuda vacation. Biographical information includes copies of several obituaries for her from 1991.

This collection is organized into five series:

• Correspondence
• Memorabilia
• Biographical Information
• Photographs
• Photograph Album