In the archive we preserve original manuscripts of most of Rudolf Steiner's writings (edited in the Complete Works under the numbers 1 to 45 (GA 1- 45) and also part of the printing proofs for the different editions.

There are 622 notebooks and 7450 notes with Rudolf Steiner's annotations. many diverse entries and records can be found in this valuable collection: drafts, thoughts, names, addresses, appointments, subscription lists, calculations of costs, excerpts and drawings. These notebooks are not a diary, because they do not usually include autobiographical notes.

We look after ca. 1800 letters from Rudolf Steiner and about 12000 letters addressed to Rudolf Steiner. They provide information about his life, the origin of his writings, the organisation of lectures and lecture cycles for conferences and everyday life and development in the theosophical and anthroposophical society.

The Rudolf Steiner Archive keeps thousands of typewritten transcripts of shorthand notes and of additional notes written down by listeners. They serve as a basis for the text publication of Rudolf Steiner’s lectures. 

During his lectures, Rudolf Steiner drew on blackboards. From 1919 on, the blackboards were covered with thick, black paper enabling to roll up the drawings after the lecture for preservation. About 1100 drawings have been preserved and have been published in the art volumes of the Complete Works 
(K 58/1 - K 58/29).
The blackboard-drawings have been exhibited in important museums and galleries around the world and are available for loan for exhibition purposes.

The library contains approximately 9400 volumes. It has been organised according to subjects: art, theater, music, literature, Goethe, dictionaries, pedagogy, medicine, legal literature, occultism, history, philosophy, geography, theology, natural sciences, mathematics, travel guides.
The library offers insight into Rudolf Steiner's scientific background work. Notes, comments, marks or dog-eared pages are traces that Rudolf Steiner left in his books.

The archive collects book copies of every published edition of the Complete Works from the first published edition to the present newly edited examples. This library documents the origin and development of the edition of Steiner's writings and lectures. It is a valuable source to follow the corrections and additions he made over the years.

Rudolf Steiner designed the Conference Room for the Theosophical Society’s Congress in Munich 1907. By including the performing arts in the programme, he began his artistic work. The design and construction of the First Goetheanum building was one of his main achievements. His artistic legacy covers the fields of architecture, theatre, speech, eurythmy, painting, drawing and sculpture. His sketches, drafts, models, pastels and watercolour-paintings are preserved in the archive

Historical programmes, newspaper articles, photos, entrance tickets record the life and works of Rudolf Steiner. By these means we can access and gain insight into events and developments in Rudolf Steiner's life.

Carlo Septimus Picht (1887-1954) was one of the first editors of Rudolf Steiner's works. He put together an ideal library in which we find most of the books which Rudolf Steiner referred to or quoted.

Besides Rudolf Steiner's Estate, there are other legacies or partial estates which are held in the archive. Among them, the legacies of Marie Steiner-von Sivers, Marie Groddeck, Carl Kemper, Tatjana Kisseleff, Maria Pozzo, Hermann Ranzenberger, Walter Roggenkamp, Ilona Schubert, A. Belyj, Assja Turgenieff.