The Helene Scriabine papers date from 1940 to 1996 and measure 12.75 linear inches. The papers arearranged in six series: Biographical information, Book reviews and publicity, Correspondence, Diaries, Manuscripts, and Photographs and visual materials. The papers date almost entirely from the period since the 1960s, after she moved to Iowa City to teach at the University and during which time her books were published. In her publications, Scriabine used pseudonyms for her family to protect their identities against possible repatriation to Russia. Konstantin Dmitriovich became Sergei, Alexander Konstantinovich became Dmitry (Dima), and George became Yuri.

The Biographical information series (1940-1996) includes documents, passports, university records, biographies of Scriabine, and interviews focusing on her life and her publications. Information about her honorary degree from Grinnell College, as well as memorabilia, guestbooks, a 1980 diary of a trip to the western United States, and two books about the Skopje earthquake in 1963, in which her son Yuri died, complete the series.

Reviews and newspaper articles about Scriabine's diaries and memoirs comprise the Book reviews and publicity series (1963-1980). The series includes the German media coverage of Leningrader Tagebuch (1972), a one-volume German publication of Siegeand Survival and After Leningrad; and of Les Faux Dieux (1963), Scriabine's doctoral dissertation, based on literature of the Russian and French authors Mikhail Zoshchenko and Marcel Ayme.

The Correspondence series (1951-1993) includes a chronological arrangement of letters from friends and colleagues as well as more extensive materials from the following correspondents: Almanac Press (1979-1982), which published Scriabine's Russian-language works in the United States; Marcel Ayme (1957-1967), the French author and subject of her doctoral dissertation; Dr. Karl Miltner (1974-1989), a German government official; Barry Morrow (1982-1983), film director and friend who has been interested in producing a TV film about Scriabine's wartime experience; Harrison Salisbury, who wrote the introduction to three of Scriabine's books and is the author of The 900 Days: the Siege of Leningrad in which he used Scriabine's eyewitness account; and Albert Speer (1977-1981), Hitler's munitions director, to whom Scriabine wrote after reading his book, Spandau, and subsequently visited in Germany.

Scriabine's recent Diaries cover the years 1984-1991 and are in Russian.

The Manuscripts series (1950-1988) includes typescripts in French, German, Russian, and English of a short story, "Five Encounters," and drafts of sections of Scriabine's books.

The Photographs and visual materials series (1920s-1996) includes pictures of Scriabine's family and friends, many snapshots from receptions and publishers' parties honoring Scriabine, and posters of the Leningrad blockade.

Siege and Survival: The Odyssey of a Leningrader; After Leningrad: A Diary of Survival (paperback); The Allies on the Rhine; and Coming of Age in the Russian Revolution (paperback) are shelved in the printed works collection, along with Russian-language paperback editions of Siege and Survival; Coming of Age in the Russian Revolution; the short story, "Five Encounters;" and the 1994 Russian publication of Pages of Life.