The Contemporary Collection was established starting in 1963, and includes personal papers and artifacts owned by well-known authors, musicians, actors, and other artists, as well as politicians, scientists, and other celebrities primarily but not limited to the 20th century. The Contemporary Collection constitutes the majority of the Archives's holdings, and include former BU professor and prolific author Isaac Asimov's papers, which fill 464 boxes on of shelf space, as well as the archives of Bette Davis, Gene Kelly, Adele Astaire, Martin Luther King Jr., David B. Zilberman and many other notable individuals from the twentieth century. Also included are original manuscripts and papers of American spy novelist Dan Sherman and the same again for many another of the mystery/espionage genre.