Record Unit 7416 (circa 1955-2002): This collection includes papers which document Riccardo Giacconi's scientific work, and administrative records relating to the institutions at which he worked. There is extensive documentation of Giacconi's professional activities, including meetings attended, papers presented (and published), his services as officer or board member of professional societies; grants, proposals, and contracts, mainly with NASA; correspondence with colleagues; slides and photographs of many facilities with which Giacconi was associated (some unlabeled); news clippings and press releases; appointment books and journals; and files documenting his association with Montedison S.p.A. the papers document institutions including American Science and Engineering Inc.; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Harvard University; Space Telescope Science Institute; and the European Southern Observatory. It also documents major projects including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory, the High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO) series of satellites, particularly HEAO-B (also known as Einstein), Uhuru, and the Advanced X-Ray Astronomical Facility (AXAF), later known as the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.

Accession 10-142 (circa 1958-1992, 2008): This accession consists of professional papers of Riccardo Giacconi. These papers document his research, participation in the larger astrophysics community, and influence on space policy. Particularly well-documented topics in this accession include the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility, the Space Studies Board, the Astrophysics Council, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the Wide Field X-Ray Telescope, and numerous other x-ray telescopes and astronomical organizations. Materials include correspondence, memoranda, manuscripts, pre-prints, proposals, meeting materials, reports, data, budgets, clippings, notes, images, pamphlets, newsletters, directories, three-dimensional awards, and related materials. Some materials are in electronic format.

Accession 05-020 (circa 1971-2004): This accession consists of professional papers of Riccardo Giacconi, including materials surrounding Giacconi's winning of the Nobel Prize in 2002. Additional topics include the European Southern Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, and x-ray telescopes.

Accession 07-024 (2006): This accession consists of the first draft of Riccardo Giacconi's autobiography, "Secrets of the Hoary Deep," which covers his extensive work and research in the field of x-ray astronomy and his reception in 2002 of the Nobel Prize in Physics. In addition to the hard copy is an electronic version.