The Cynthia Propper Seton Papers consist of 1 linear foot of material dating from 1946 to 1982, with the majority dating from the later 1960's to the end of Seton's life. The collection consists mainly of Seton's writings, including drafts and finished typescripts of her columns, essays, and novels. Personal papers are less extensive, and are primarily Seton's detailed correspondence to her longtime friend and confidante Frances Richardson, whom Seton met in 1951 while their husbands were both at Yale Medical School. These discuss Seton's views on women's rights, writing, travels, her children, and her later battle with Hodgkin's disease. Seton's search for what it means to live a fulfilling life runs heavily throughout the correspondence, a theme she also discusses at length in her writings.

The collection also contains several photographs and some biographical information, mostly articles featuring Seton's politics and experience as an older feminist and mother, but also obituaries and other materials relating to her death. Major themes addressed in the papers are the social movements of the 1960s (especially the women's movement); the impact of feminism on middle-aged women; Smith College; the city of Northampton; and the writing process.

This collection is organized into three series:

• I. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS
• II. CORRESPONDENCE
• III. WRITINGS