Edith Wharton’s archive consists of material held by over thirty institutions across North America and Europe. This essay demonstrates that the process of integrating the contents of Wharton’s archive into the study of her writing has been hindered not only by its immensity, generic diversity, and geographic distribution, but by its history. Sections of the essay address the uses of Wharton’s archive by her biographers; the significance of recently published archival documents which alter substantially our understanding of Wharton’s early career and work as a dramatist; material related to Wharton’s wartime experiences, a subject of renewed interest; and Wharton’s professional correspondence, especially her negotiations with her editors and publishers, which impacted the formal properties of Wharton’s fiction. The essay argues that Wharton’s archive remains a source of new information about the scope and variety of her achievements, and her creative processes.