Title deeds and settlements make up over half the collection (Ne D). The largest section relates to estates in Nottinghamshire - the Cavendish and Holles properties in Basford and Nottingham, Bevercotes, Haughton, Markham Clinton and Newark. Other sections cover the medieval and later Holles estates in St Clement Danes, St Giles in the Fields and St Pancras in Middlesex; the Clinton estates in Sussex and later Newcastle estates such as Oatlands in Surrey and the Aldborough and Boroughbridge properties in Yorkshire.
Accounts, rentals and vouchers, surveys and valuations and miscellaneous papers and correspondence (Ne A; Ne S) refer to most of the major estates and to such special matters as building works at the Clumber and Oatland residences, and the expenses involved in building the new street (Newcastle Street) in St Clement Danes. There are nearly 1,900 legal papers dealing primarily with estate matters (Ne L).
Maps and plans are few in number and only a proportion relate to the estates. Maps of Australia, India, Canada and the U.S.A. belonged to the 5th Duke in his capacity as colonial secretary (Ne P).
Among the manorial records the most important are the court books of the manor of Newark and its members, (which begin in 1575 and continue in this series to 1867). There are records also for the manors of Bevercotes, Gamston, Kirklington, Maplebeck, Markham Clinton and Walkeringham and Misterton, and for the bailiwicks of Bassetlaw and ultra et citra Trentam and the manors of Bothamsall and Elkesley where the courts were held (Ne M).
Most of the inventories in the collection were made in 1794 or 1795 on the deaths of the 2nd and 3rd duke, and there are catalogues of the pictures at Clumber in the 19th century (Ne I).
Apart from the estate and household records (Ne E) there is also a major group relating to the various official positions held by the dukes and their ancestors at various dates (Ne O), and of the final miscellaneous manuscripts the most numerous are the newspaper cuttings on political, social and family topics, whilst the most striking are the grants of title and the illuminated pedigrees (Ne X).