The collection contains the personal and business papers of Clara and Moritz Altstadt. The business papers represent about half the entire collection. They cover the Altstadts' business interests in interwar and postwar Austria and Czechoslovakia (the Aeterna shoe company and Clara Altstadt’s property rental business) and those set up after immigrating to Scotland (the Scottish Shoe Company and Macloritex). These materials, alongside the considerable correspondence with lawyers and banks, give an insight into the expropriation of Jewish property by the Nazi and Communist regimes, as well as the Altstadt’s attempts to move their wealth with them from Austria and then regain their property after the war.

The Altstadt private papers mainly consist of family correspondence, including letters to and from Clara and Moritz's children, George and Sylvia. The collection also includes photographs of the four Altstadts.

In addition there are private letters, as well as some documents and photographs, belonging to the Mayers and the Picks, the families of Clara Altstadt’s father and mother respectively; the larger part of these are letters to or from Irma Mayer, Clara’s mother.