The series consists primarily of working correspondence, manuscripts of articles, radio scripts, and Southeast Asia material from the period (1946 to 1952) when Steinhouse was a freelance correspondent based in France, but there is also material for freelance work that he did from 1952 to 1962. Correspondence files document his efforts to sell his work in a wide variety of print and broadcast markets, including the CBC, "Maclean's", and "Toronto Star" where his contacts were Andrew Cowan, Marjorie McEnaney, Pierre Berton and Ted Honderich. Correspondence from his American agent, Lurton Blassingame, shows his effort to sell the Schindler story to the "quality" magazine market in the United States. The manuscripts of his articles are divided into those published and not published, and include clippings of them and a checklist of all the articles he wrote between 1950 and 1952 which provides a good example of the working methodology of a freelance writer. In addition, there are photographs of the construction of the Genissiat Dam on the Rhone River, France and Jacques Cartier's monument in Saint-Malo that were used to illustrate his articles on the Genissiat Dam and Saint-Malo.
From his work as the CBC's Paris correspondent, 1950-1952, the series holds radio scripts of his broadcasts from France for CBC "News Roundup" and other programmes. His "King of the Jungle" script for the CBC "Summer Fallow" series won a first prize at the 17th American Exhibition of Educational Radio Programs in 1953. The Southeast Asia textual records and photographs document his participation in the United Nations' special publicity mission led by Ritchie Calder, 1951-1952. They include correspondence with the United Nations and World Health Organization about the team and its mission; his Southeast Asia "diary" of scripts and raw material for UN documentaries on the plight of the region; Calder's articles in the "Men Against Disease" and "Jungle in Retreat" series; and an extensive selection of photographs depicting social and economic conditions in Burma, Thailand, Java, Sarawak, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The graphic material includes his negatives and contact sheets.
