The papers feature correspondence and personal effects relating to author Edith Wharton, including over 130 letters to Bahlmann from Wharton, dating from Bahlmann's employment to the Wharton family in 1874, as Edith's German language tutor, to 1915. The letters document a significant, long-standing relationship and shed light on Wharton's personal and literary affairs. In addition to the Wharton correspondence, there are single and small groups of letters between Bahlmann and family members, friends, and acquaintances, including William Morton Fullerton and Henry James, and a small number of third-party letters. Bahlmann's personal effects include legal and financial documents, notebooks, and writings, as well as material relating to Wharton. Other materials relating most directly to Wharton include clippings, documents on her work during the war, photographs, and postcards. Photographs consist of studio portraits of people and images of Wharton's residences. There are photographs of Wharton, Bahlmann family members, and friends, including Mary Cadwalader Jones. Wharton residences include "Reef Point" in Bar Harbour, Maine and the estate ("The Mount") in Lenox, Massachusetts.