This collection contains articles, research, and correspondence on the Melungeon people.

The Norbert F. Riedl Collection includes research files on such topics as architecture, clothing and costume, cockfighting, food and cooking, games and recreation, legends, medicines and remedies, music, quilting, snake handling, and customs pertaining to marriage, divorce, death and burial. There is also material about the mysterious Melungeons of Hancock and Hawkins Counties and there is a group of tape recordings which relate to many of the file topics.

This collection contains the papers of historian and genealogist Penelope Johnson Allen, from the 1770s to the 1980s, primarily the twentieth century. The collection includes personal papers, research material, genealogical research material, publications, and more.