The papers of Andrew Jackson Donelson extend from 1779 to 1943, although they are principally for the period from 1813-1869. Letters received by Donelson constitute the bulk of the papers, but retained contemporary copies and drafts of letters sent are present, as well as transcripts and photocopies. Also included are a letter copybook of Donelson's dispatches from Berlin, 1846-1848, a few drafts of speeches, legal and financial papers, photographs, engravings, and printed matter. The collection is arranged in six series: General Correspondence and Other Papers , Additional Correspondence , Letter Copybook , Miscellaneous Papers , Family Papers , and Printed Matter, Documents and Indexes.

Others represented in the Andrew Donelson Papers by distinct but lesser groups of material are Emily Tennessee Donelson, wife of A.J. Donelson, a volume containing correspondence, journal entries, and photographs; Mary Emily Donelson, daughter of Andrew Donelson, an album, diary, and scrapbook, with some correspondence; James Glasgow Martin and Lewis Randolph, correspondence, journals, and notebooks; and Pauline Wilcox Burke, great-granddaughter of Andrew Donelson, correspondence, notes, and research materials.

The major portion of the collection relates to the Donelson's public life, as a cadet at West Point, military aide and private secretary to his uncle, Andrew Jackson, diplomat in Mexico and Germany, editor, and political candidate. Very few items relate to the Civil War period or to the years thereafter.

Andrew Donelson was closely associated with Andrew Jackson from early youth until the latter's death in 1845. Whenever the two were separated, Jackson would write frequent letters to his nephew, discussing matters large and small. Jackson is, then, a major figure in the Donelson papers, and there are some 250 of his letters in the collection. Many drafts and fair copies of Jackson's presidential messages and proclamations were once a part of the Donelson Papers, but were placed with the Library's Jackson Papers some years ago.

Among the many subjects touched upon by correspondence in the Donelson papers are Jackson's presidential campaigns of 1824, 1828, and 1832, the Eaton affair, the resulting Donelson-Jackson breach, and the subsequent cabinet reorganization of 1831. The move to recharter the Bank of the United States, nullification, the Poindexter incident, French spoliation claims, removal of deposits, and other issues of Jackson's presidency are also subjects of correspondence. There are many letters from office seekers and from others hoping to influence President Jackson through his secretary. Family affairs and plantation matters, especially the management of slaves and the breeding and training of horses, are frequent topics of correspondence.

Donelson's diplomatic career, as chargé d'affaires at the time of the annexation of Texas, and as minister to Prussia and Germany, is developed in correspondence and in the case of Germany, copies of dispatches. His brief political career, with the American Party, is not as fully portrayed as other aspects of his life, and very little is available to document the later years spent out of public service.

A small, but highly unusual, group of material in the collection consists of documents relating to Virginia's ratification of the United States Constitution, 1787-1788. Included is a Dunlap and Claypoole printing of the Constitution with holograph annotations by Edmund Pendleton.

The roster of prominent correspondents in the Donelson Papers is long and varied. Presidents in addition to Jackson represented by correspondence are James Monroe, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan. Many of Jackson's cabinet members are included, such as Edward Livingston, Louis McLane, Roger Brooke Taney, Levi Woodbury, John Henry Eaton, Lewis Cass, Benjamin F. Butler, Amos Kendall, John Branch, and William J. Duane.