The material in this collection relates to people in Alice Jaffe's life, rather than to Alice Jaffe personally. These persons include: Louis I. Jaffe, her husband and editor of the Virginian-Pilot from 1919 to 1950; Colonel Henry Rice, her father; and Captain Samuel Davis, an ancestor and ship's captain. A part of the collection includes materials on the first two decades of growth of the Norfolk Division of William and Mary which later became Old Dominion College and then Old Dominion University.

This series includes correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, and brochures regarding the early formation and growth of the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary from 1938 to 1948. Many of the documents are addressed to or copied to Mr. Louis Jaffe, Alice Jaffe's husband and editor of the Virginian Pilot at the time. Materials are arranged chronologically.

This series relates to the building of a house for year round occupancy at Virginia Beach in 1936 by Alice Jaffe's father, Col. Henry Rice. Included are price estimates, brochures, bills, construction plans, and other related materials. This series is arranged alphabetically.

This series relates to Captain Samuel Davis, a ship's captain, citizen of Norfolk, Virginia, and an ancestor of Alice Jaffe. The series is broken into two sub-series: A. Correspondence and B. Legal Documents.

This sub-series contains correspondence regarding U.S. trade with Britain and France. Material is arranged chronologically and dates from 1810 to 1817.

This sub-series contains legal documents including a ship's roster for the American Barque Petersburg, a letter from the Collector of Norfolk requesting safe overseas passage for Captain Davis, and a document regarding the sale of a slave to Samuel Davis. Material is arranged chronologically, and dates from 1807 to 1810.

This series contains a booklet with a compilation of articles and speeches by Alice Jaffe's husband, Louis Jaffe who was the editor for the Virginian Pilot from 1919 until his death in 1950. He won the Pulitzer Price for Editorial Writing in 1929 for An Unspeakable Act of Savagery, which condemned lynching. This compilation includes this editorial, and his other famous editorial The Baby Magnolia (1920). Other topics include: the press, the Virginian Pilot, Norfolk, anti-lynching laws and race relations, and introductions of speakers such as Robert Frost, World War II.

This series contains a birthday card with an illustrated map of Virginia, a portrait of the presentation of the Norfolk Mace to the Corporation of Norfolk by Robert Dinwiddie, Governor of Virginia in 1754, and sheet music from the records of the ODU School of Arts and Letters. Material is arranged alphabetically.