The Varnhagen Collection contains letters, work manuscripts, diaries, prints and notes of various kinds, but also non-written documents, for example portraits, drawings and natural objects.

In the project "Female Writers in the Varnhagen Collection – Letters, Works, Relations", several interrelated holdings of this collection are being edited and examined. Manuscripts of the authors Charlotte von Ahlefeld, Helmina von Chézy, Amalie von Helvig, Caroline de la Motte Fouqué, Amalia Schoppe, Fanny Tarnow, Karoline von Woltmann and Amalie von Voigt as well as many of their female and male correspondents form the corpus of documents presented by the edition. Despite the diversity of characters and fortunes, of writing styles and references, of political, aesthetic and religious views, they are united by the fact that they have been preserved as part of the Varnhagen Collection. The literary, cultural and political life of Europe in the period between 1800 and 1860 is reflected in many facets.

In the course of the philological indexing of the documents, new, hitherto unexplored relations and positions have been revealed. In particular, the authors appear as mediators between countries and cultures, for example between Germany, France and Poland, but also England and the United States.