The Josephine Schain Papers, dating from 1907 to 1960, consist of 5 linear feet and are primarily related to Schain's involvement in a host of women's organizations, the purpose of which was advocacy of international peace through cooperative enterprise among nations. There is also a small amount of material relating to women and the vote, notably the Democratic National Committee, Empire State Campaign Committee, and the League of Women Voters. Types of material include correspondence, broadcasts, speeches and other writings; photographs; and journal and newspaper articles.

The bulk of the papers date from 1930 to 1955 and focus on Schain's work as an officer of numerous women's rights and peace organizations, as well as her role in organizing conferences and other events that they sponsored. Half the collection is comprised of material pertaining to those organizations, of which approximately two thirds is correspondence. The letters (in addition to minutes, agendas, bulletins, memoranda, and reports) provide excellent documentation of the internal workings of the organizations' leadership, and of perceptions of the issues the women involved were attempting to address and remedy, both nationally and internationally. Notable correspondents include Margaret Corbett Ashby, Mary Ritter Beard, Carrie Chapman Catt, Newton Diehl Baker, Helen Gahagan Douglas, India Edwards, Helen Hayes, Lorena Hickok, Stanley Hornbeck, Cordell Hull, Rosa Manus, Alva Reimer Myrdal, Maud Wood Park, Frances Perkins, and Virginia Rishel. The Carrie Chapman Catt correspondence is extensive, both with Schain and with others. The photographs in this collection are also noteworthy and include images of Catt and Schain, as well as group pictures taken at various international peace conferences.

This collection is organized into five series:

• I. Biographical Materials
• II. Correspondence
• III. Writings
• IV. Organizations
• V. Subject Files