The papers of Eugene Meyer (1875-1959) span the period 1864-1975, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the years 1890-1959. The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, minutes of meetings, diaries, oral history interviews, speeches, writings, congressional testimony, press statements, financial papers, family papers, biographical material, printed material, scrapbooks, photographs, and miscellaneous items. The papers are organized in four installments of seventeen overlapping series: Part I: Memoirs and Diaries , Part I: Family Papers , Part I: General Correspondence , Part I: Speeches and Writings , Part I: Subject File , Part I: Miscellany , Part II: Family and General Correspondence , Part II: Speeches and Writings , Part II: Subject File , Part III: Diaries , Part III: Family and Personal Correspondence , Part III: General Correspondence , Part III: Subject File , Part III: Miscellany , Part III: Scrapbooks , Part III: Additions , and Part IV: 2023 Addition.

The collection documents Meyer's career as a financier, public servant, and newspaper publisher. From about 1900 to 1917, he was a broker and businessman; from 1918 to 1933 and briefly during World War II and in 1946, he was in government service; and from 1933 until 1959, the owner and publisher of the Washington Post . Included is biographical and background material on Meyer, his family, and business associates nationally and internationally. A major focus is on American economic and financial history, including agricultural and political economy, corporate finance, international monetary affairs, regulation of currencies, foreign trade, and war reparations. The collection treats business and financial interests extending from the automobile, airplane, and metals industries to mining, ranching, and real estate. Also featured are his connections to the artistic community and a lifelong interest in psychology, psychiatry, and mental health. Material on the Washington Post , although extensive, relates less to editorial policies and practices than on the business aspects of advertising, public relations, syndication, and circulation.

Subject File series in Parts I-III emphasize organizational rather than individual activity. Documented in addition to the Washington Post are Meyer's association with the War Finance Corporation, the Federal Farm Loan Board, and the Federal Reserve Board. Other subjects of importance pertain to Washington, D.C., to organizations such as the Washington Criminal Justice Association, and to Meyer's philanthropies during World War II. Examples of the latter include Clover Croft School files relating to refugee children and material concerning German Jewish refugees and the Zadoc-Kahn and Weill families. Also treated are postwar efforts by Meyer to supply food to Europe, privately and publicly.

Speeches and Writings files chiefly concern Meyer's functions in government service, but also touch on Washington Post events and issues, the state of journalism, travels in Europe, and economic conditions. Included are texts of appearances before congressional committees and other question-and-answer sessions that provide evidence of his policy views and philosophy.

Among the individuals represented in the papers are Alfred Friendly (1911-1983), Philip L. Graham, Sidney Hyman, James Russell Wiggins, and members of the Zadoc-Kahn family and the Weill (Weil) family. Corporate bodies represented include Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company, Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation, American Institute of Public Opinion, American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation, Anaconda Copper Co., Boston Consolidated Mining Company, Clover Croft School, Gallup Organization, Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting and Power Company, Ltd., Maxwell Motors, U.S. Federal Farm Loan Board, U.S. Federal Reserve Board, War Finance Corporation, Washington Criminal Justice Association, and the Washington Post Company.

Prominent or frequent correspondents include Bernard M. Baruch, Fred H. Bixby, Samuel G. Blythe, Gutzon Borglum, Brendan Bracken, Robert H. Brand, Louis Dembitz Brandeis, Alfred A. Cook, George R. Cooksey, Calvin Coolidge, William O. Douglas, Abba Solomon Eban, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Felix Frankfurter, Charles Freer, Alfred Friendly (1911-1983), Philip L. Graham, Floyd R. Harrison, Helen Hayes (1900-1993), James W. Hoban, Herbert Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover, Sidney Hyman, Thomas Mann, Herbert G. Moulton, Eddy Rickenbacker, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Carl Sandburg, Edward Steichen, Earl Warren, James Russell Wiggins, Woodrow Wilson, and the Meyer (Myers) family.