McDowell's papers, which date from 1894 to 1955, document McDowell as a student at Wellesley and Cornell through letters she wrote home and account books. Other materials include information on her 1914 trip to Germany, and her work for the U. S. Bureau of Standards in 1918. Material on the Harvard Radio Research Lab during World War II include publications and working papers on radar and radar counter measures as well as photographs. Correspondents include, among others: her mother, Alexander Graham Bell, W. L. Bragg, Karl T. Compton, Edward L. Nichols, Marion Shea, J. J. Thomson, Arthur Gordon Webster, and Sarah F. Whiting. Topics include, among others: atomic energy, education, radar, Wellesley curriculum, opportunities in physics for women, Dr. Emilie Jones Barker, Eunice Cole Smith, and Ohm's law. Also included are copies of speeches given by McDowell to a variety of audiences.
