Series consists of twenty years of incoming correspondence organized alphabetically by sender surname and, by sender, chronologically. Contents include: postcards, photographs, and handwritten and typewritten letters (originals, negatives, and copies). When included in the accession, envelopes are retained with the letters with which they came. The bulk of Lowry's incoming correspondence was composed between 1940 and 1954 while the Lowrys resided primarily in Dollarton.
Lowry corresponded with a wide range of family (his own and Margerie's), friends from across the Americas and western Europe, and professional contacts in the literary world. Albert Erskine, David Markson, Downie Kirk, and Harold Matson, for example, all kept up regular correspondence with Lowry for many years. Several files include only short correspondences pertaining to specific activities, generally publication of one of Lowry's poems or short stories, or the translating of his works into another language.