The Alan Bowne papers consists of three boxes of materials created over the course of Bowne's career as a playwright and author. These include play scripts and drafts, short story drafts, screenplays, correspondence, notebooks, photographs, audio cassettes, and one reel-to-reel tape. These materials originate from the 1970s - 1991, with the bulk of the collection originating from the 1980s.

This collection largely consists of playbills from Chicago's Lyric Opera House, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and regional theatres collected by Carol Berger. There are also ticket stubs from the performances, as well as materials from the Art Institute of Chicago.

This collection contains playbills for performances at a variety of venues in the Washington D.C. metro area, including the National Theatre, Arena Stage, the New Gayety Theatre, the Warner Theatre, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as multiple smaller, local theatres and companies, and others across the United States and internationally.