Diaries, travel journals, sketch books, writings, and other papers of Chicago writer Alice Judson Ryerson Hayes.

The diaries document Hayes's daily life, musings on psychology, ideas of future poems and stories, and sketches. Many diaries also include inserts of letters, news articles, photographs, and other papers. The travel journals document her trips within the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The journals include diary entries, photographs, sketches, and poems inspired by the locations visited. Many journals have inserts, including: letters, plant and flower pressings, maps, and papers relating to hotels she stayed at and sites she visited. Some travel journals show her participation in archeological digs in the Middle East, Mediterranean, and United States, as an amateur archeologist, and include notes, photographs, inserts about the archeological dig, and letters. There are sketchbooks and loose drawings that include drawings and watercolor paintings. The writings include Hayes's poetry and short stories. The poetry is bound by years, manuscripts of poetry volumes, and loose verses. Some of the loose poems pertain to the topic of family and are about family members. The short stories include multiple drafts of the same story and drafts of children's books, including original artwork by Hayes. Other papers include, date books, financial information about Ragdale and Hayes, and miscellaneous biographic and autobiographic materials. Also includes correspondences about Hayes's work written by other authors, people in the business, and friends. There are some papers pertaining to the creation of Ragdale, first as a family home by her grandfather, the Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, and the early years of Ragdale as an Artists' retreat. The papers also include invitations to speak at conferences and events and drafts of speeches.

Some dates in the diaries overlap and include inserts outside the date range of the dairy. Diaries also include references to materials not included in the collection and to travel journals from that year. Newberry has electronic transcriptions of select works and the printouts are available and arranged after the originals.