Series I. Biographical Materials contains an autobiographical sketch, memorabilia from the 1930s and from Breitman's WWII military service, and materials pertaining to several memorial services.

Series II. Correspondence contains the bulk of Breitman's correspondence, and is principally concerned with his political activities as a member of the Socialist Workers Party and later the Fourth Internationalist Tendency. Correspondents include: Betsy Barnes, Pierre Broue, James Cannon, Eldridge Cleaver, Farrell Dobbs, Al Glotzer, Daniel Guerin, Joseph Hansen, Gerry Healy, James Kutcher, Walter Lippman, Frank Lovell, Vanessa Redgrave, Ed Shaw, Robert Williams, Murry Weiss, William Worthy. There is also some Breitman correspondence in series III, and throughout series IV.

Series III. Political Organizations and Activities contains committee, club, and branch meeting minutes, convention proceedings, discussion and position papers, reports and memos, correspondence of Breitman and others, and FBI files. There is coverage of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) from its inception, although the greatest concentration of material is from the 1950s-60s and from 1982-85, the period leading up to, and immediately after Breitman's expulsion. For the Newark and Detroit clubs, there are minutes, typescripts of Breitman's talks and lectures, and documentation of Breitman's several runs for public office. Many files deal with views of the USSR, the Shachtman/Workers Party split, Pabloism, and the Cochranite split, including: "Toward Brass Tacks," by James Burnham, 1939; W. Roark (Trotsky) Letters re Opposition, 1940; "Shamefaced Defensism," by Dwight MacDonald, 1940; "Russian Theses," by E. R. Frank, 1948-49; "Pabloism revisited" by Peng, 1955; and an account of a (confidential) interview with Louis Adamic, 1950. Significant files on African Americans include resolutions written by R. Kirk, 1953; "Why white radicals are incapable of understanding black nationalism," by R. Vernon, 1963; the SWP Black Fraction, 1967-68; and various Breitman lectures and resolutions. Files from the late 1970s - early 1980s document Breitman's political differences with the SWP line, his expulsion and the aftermath. The James Kutcher FBI files pertain to the case of this legless World War II veteran who in 1948 was dismissed from his job as a Veterans Administration clerk in Newark, NJ because of his SWP membership. The other FBI files document the Detroit Friday Night Forum, and the case of the SWP vs the U.S. Attorney General (1980s).

Series IV. Writings, Lectures, and Interviews contains correspondence, published and unpublished typescripts, transcripts of speeches and lectures, lists of articles in Trotskyist periodicals, and audio recordings of lectures, interviews, and events.

Subseries B and C contain typescripts relating to Malcolm X and the Black Power and Civil Rights movements, including that of a proposed book, Racism in World War II, and The SWP and the Negro Question; a 1939 typescript by J. R. Johnson (aka C. L. R. James) "Preliminary notes on the Negro Question;" ephemera documenting the Black Liberation movements of the late 1950s - early 1970s, notably the Freedom Now Party; transcripts of speeches, interviews, lectures, and radio broadcasts by Malcolm X; correspondence, including Eldridge Cleaver (see also series I) and James Shabazz; and lists of relevant articles in Trotskyist periodicals.

The series also contains Cannon correspondence, writings and interviews, and Breitman's correspondence regarding the editing and publication of Cannon's writings. It contains a selection of Trotsky's correspondence and writings, as well as several letters from U.S. Trotskyists and Breitman's correspondence regarding his editing and publication of the works of Trotsky.

Breitman corresponded with Carl Skoglund, Minneapolis Trotskyist and Teamster leader, regarding what appears to have been a biography, and the files contain fragmentary portions of the unpublished typescript. Breitman also corresponded with historian Alan Wald, with Trotsky bibliographer Louis Sinclair and others, including Pierre Broue, Trotsky's grandson (four files covering the years 1972-1983). Breitman also accumulated a number of typescripts by other Trotskyists.