Publications and working papers of Ruff, mostly in preparation for his book "We Called Each Other Comrade": Charles H. Kerr and Company, Radical Publishers (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997). The bulk of the material is photocopied documents used in research.

Research notes, photocopies, drafts, proofs, photographs, and correspondence comprising the papers used to research and produce the Haymarket Scrapbook, edited by Franklin Rosemont and Dave Roediger (Charles H. Kerr Pub. Co., 1986). Also materials related to the activities commemorating the centennial of the 1886-1887 Haymarket Affair.

Papers and photographs pertaining to Chicagoan Joe Giganti, a labor defense activist who served as the Chairman of the Board of the Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company. The collection includes 1930s periodicals, documents, and ephemera of Communist and Socialist groups in Chicago, New York, Italy, and elsewhere. Also included are Giganti's University papers, a file on Giorgio del Vecchio, an audio recording of Giganti, and a photograph album, which features Joe's wife, Rose.