The Blanche Basye Gilmore papers date from 1970 and consist of the memoir Recollections. The memoir is filled with the adventures of Gilmore's life, including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, having a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, being in Germany when war was declared in 1914, serving as "First Lady" in the Philippines, meeting the Prince of Wales and artist Grant Wood, having tea with President Coolidge, and traveling extensively in Europe and Asia. Throughout the memoir, Gilmore is first and foremost a wife, mother and grandmother. She describes births, graduations, marriages and grandchildren, and comments on the difficulty of finding good domestic help.