This series includes biographical information, obituaries and tributes, memorabilia, memoirs, and photographs. In part, this series documents Germain's girlhood involvement with the Camp Fire Girls in California, a formative experience that instilled a deep love of the natural world and, according to Germain, later contributed to the development of her ecological model of social work theory.

This series is arranged chronologically. Although there are some items that relate to Germain's early education or that were incidental to her educational status later in life, the bulk of the series is comprised of notes and other materials generated by doctoral level courses at the Columbia University School of Social Work. Germain cited Lucille Austin, Bernard Barber and Irving Miller as having profoundly influenced her thinking, which might explain why she chose to save materials from their courses.

This series is arranged by type of activity. It includes papers relating to such activities as committee and board work, thesis and dissertation advising, participation in conferences and seminars, and membership in professional associations. The series also includes some teaching materials.

Professional correspondence spans Germain's entire career and illustrates both the breadth of her professional interests and the level of respect she earned in the field of social work; it is approximately half incoming and half outgoing. Most of the personal correspondence dates from the mid-1980s, with the exception of a set of letters from William Germain to Carel, written during his tour of duty in World War II. The personal correspondence consists mostly of incoming letters, but some do include Germain's replies.

This series consists of correspondence, research materials, notes relating to specific writings, and drafts of some writings. It also includes Germain's commentaries on and reviews of writings by peers, articles she wrote for social work publications, as well as forewords, introductions and chapters for books by colleagues. "Research materials--unidentified" (located in Boxes 13 and 14) is a sub-series of "Published works" and pertains to both The Life Model of Social Work Practice: Advances in Theory and Practice, 1996 and to a revised edition of Human Behavior in the Social Environment: An Ecological Approach 1991; the files indicate an overlap, and Germain apparently used them to work on both books simultaneously. Research materials relating to the writing of Germain's books are of interest in that they reveal the steps involved in producing a manuscript and seeing it through to publication. Similarly, extensive correspondence with co-author Alex Gitterman (filed in this series under The Life Model of Social Work Practice, 1980 and The Life Model of Social Work Practice: Advances in Theory and Practice, 1996) offers insight into the collaborative writing process. Series V also contains 1.4 linear feet of data relating to unpublished works, including Germain's dissertation, "Casework and Science: A Study in the Sociology of Knowledge".

This series contains subject files and is arranged alphabetically. It includes almost half the collection and is comprised of extensive files on a wide range of topics relevant to the teaching and practice of social work, including a substantial section on the history of the profession. There is also .5 linear foot of segments of published proceedings of The National Conference of Social Work and the National Conference on Social Welfare (apparently synonymous), which span but do not include all the years 1926-61. Files in this series are mostly undated, but it seems that Germain collected the material throughout her career. Although Germain read the New York Times and regularly clipped articles that related to her work, space limitations and the ready availability of this source dictated that most of the newsclippings in the subject files could not be retained. (Exceptions include New York Times Magazine articles, subject files comprised primarily of newsclippings, and clippings specifically about social work theory and practice.)