The papers of Harold Gatty (1903-1957) span the years 1901-1957, with most of the collection concerning the history of land and nautical navigation. Comparatively little relates to the Wiley Post-Harold Gatty eight-day flight around the world in 1931. The collection is organized into nine series following the basic outline established by Gatty: Book File , Navigation File , Ground-Speed and Drift Indicator , Transoceanic Flights , Pacific Airline Routes , Printed Matter , Miscellany , Bibliographic File , and Oversize .

Material relating to Gatty's published works in the Book File , The Raft Book; Lore of the Sea and Sky and Nature Is Your Guide, consists mainly of notes, charts, drawings, reprinted articles, photocopies of navigation charts and instruments, and drafts of the books. Included is a typed manuscript of Adventures of a Nature Guide by Enos Abijah Mills, published in 1920. There is frequently more than one draft of chapters from Gatty's books and some material for chapters not included in the final version of the two books.

The Navigation File contains manuscript material concerned with navigation, its history, and its methodology. This section consists mainly of articles from books and journals that have been recopied and in some cases translated from the original language. Included is bibliographical material, biographical sketches, and a file of articles on navigational activities from the Geographical Journal. There is also a brief background to the navigational theory of the Polynesians that allowed them to cross thousands of miles of uncharted seas without the use of navigational instruments. The material in this section indicates that Gatty was attempting to write a book on navigation. Included are outlines, sketched chapters, and a large amount of background information, but the work was not completed.

Closely connected with the files on navigation is Gatty's bibliography of the subject on index cards. Also in the Bibliographic File are index cards on the Arctic and Antarctica used as the basis for a confidential report for the United States Navy in 1944 on navigational methods in the two regions.

Correspondence, charts, maps, notes, and aeronautical timetables in the Pacific Airline Routes series relate to the South Seas Commercial Company that Gatty started with Donald W. Douglas of Douglas Aircraft in 1934. The founders hoped to obtain leases or concessions on islands in the Pacific for the construction of landing facilities for airline operations from the Pacific coast of the United States to Honolulu, continuing one line to Pago-Pago, New Zealand, and Australia, and another to the Philippines and China. The company was later dissolved and Pan American Airlines assumed control of the routes; Gatty then worked for the new owners. Correspondence in the series indicates that, despite the claims of others, Gatty surveyed the original routes in the Pacific. Some of the communications were sent to him in secret code, and not all have been decoded.

Also in the collection is material on Gatty's two 1931 inventions, the ground-speed indicator and the drift meter. Included in the Ground-Speed and Drift Indicator series are foreign and domestic patent applications, lists and reports of patents in the United States Patent Office concerning navigation, blueprints, diagrams, correspondence, and other material relating to the inventions.

The Miscellany includes newspaper clippings on Gatty's attempted transpacific flight with Harold Bromley in 1931. Printed matter consists of pamphlets and clippings from magazines and journals mainly concerned with navigation, nature, and navigational theory.