The New York Post first reported news of the collection, which includes personal correspondence Laurents kept with many friends and collaborators. According to the Library of Congress, the collection includes approximately 15,400 items, spanning from 1900-2011, with a bulk of them ranging from 1960-2011.

Laurents died May 5, 2011, at the age of 93. His writings were gifted to the Library of Congress in 2012.

Included in the collection are drafts of scripts for West Side Story, Gypsy, La Cage aux Folles and Hallelujah, Baby!, as well as novelizations of Laurents' screenplays for "The Way We Were" and "The Turning Point."

Letters to and from such individuals as Edward Albee, Bea Arthur, Ingrid Bergman, Leonard Bernstein, Alfred Hitchcock, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone, Harold Prince, Robert Redford, Jerome Robbins, Richard Rodgers, Stephen Schwartz, Ray Stark and Barbra Streisand are also in the collection.

As part of the collection, Laurents also donated personal effects, including photographs and letters to his late partner Tom Hatcher, as well as Laurents' FBI file, his living will, Army records, his baby book, publicity materials and biographical notes for programs.