Chiefly photographs created and copied by Kagan while conducting research for his book, New World Utopias: A Photographic History of the Search for Community (New York: Penguin Books, 1975). The photographs document nineteenth and twentieth century utopian communities, most located in California, with others in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. The collection includes material he collected about utopian communities, including audiotapes of interviews and related events, as well as drawings and photographs. The collection also includes examples of photography and graphic design that Kagan created for traditional and alternative newspapers, as well as examples of some of his book reviews and other writings. A small group of material documents social action at the University of California, Berkeley, and in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s.

Utopian communities and other groups represented in the collection include an Amish community, Ananda Ashrama, Caspar Compound, Divine Light Mission, Esoteric Fraternity, The Farm, Fundación Indra Devi, Fountaingrove, Fountain of the World, Halcyon, Holy City, Icaria Speranza, Kaweah Colony, Krotona (including Happy Valley School), Lama Foundation, Lemurian Fellowship, Llano del Rio, The Lord's Land, Pisgah Faith Home, Pisgah Grande, Point Loma, Rosicrucian Fellowship, Questhaven Retreat, Self-Realization Golden World Colony, Table Mountain Ranch, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, Theosophical Society (Pasadena), Unification Church, and Vedanta Temple (Santa Barbara).