This collection contains the professional and personal papers and materials of conservator and bookbinder Don Etherington. It documents Etherington's extensive career in conservation, instruction, administration, consultation, and fine bookbinding. Project files highlight individual bookbinding and conservation projects, as well as consultations establishing or improving conservation practices in libraries and special collections. Significant projects include the Charters of Freedom, Puerto Rico Consitution, Magna Carta, and work conducted at the University of Texas at Austin at the Harry Ransom Humantities Research Center. A large portion of the collection documents Etherington's administrative work within the bookbinding and conservation professional communities, including developing professional standards and presentations and lectures at conferences and institutions.

Association files also include instructional materials from the Southampton College of Art and the Library of Congress. Correspondence files document personal and professional communication. The collection also contains Etherington's autobiography drafts and materials, clippings, and miscellaneous publications. Also included in the collection are papers, materials, and catalogs related to his wife, bookbinder Monique Lallier.

Materials are primarily textual; other formats include sketches, blueprints, photographs, notebooks, ephemera, and catalogs.