The California Pictures Corporation series (approximately 1919-1965) consists of records pertaining to the company's film production and corporate operations. Film-related records depict the production side of the 1947 film The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, as well as the initial filming of the 1950 Hughes Production film, Vendetta, which Preston Sturges initially directed and produced. Other film-related materials include production logs, actor and writer contracts, scripts, and photographic prints relating to the two films. The corporate records include publicity, financial, and legal materials detailing the creation, management, and dissolution of California Pictures.

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock sub-series (1944-1951) contains materials related to the development, production, and post-production of the California Pictures Corporation film, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947), also known as Mad Wednesday. Records include advertising and publicity, legal, production and direction, and story development records, as well as film soundtracks. Materials included are correspondence, pressbooks, newspaper and magazine clippings, black-and-white photographic prints and negatives, music scores and sheets, contracts, agreements, screenplays, continuities, and casting sheets.

The corporate records for California Pictures Corporation (1919-1965) detail Hughes and Sturges' legal arrangement for the creation and eventual dissolution of their company. Also included are documents for the incorporation of California Pictures, as well as the procurement of screenplay and book rights for potential movie productions. Other materials detail the acquisition of titles under the California Pictures name for Hughes Tool Company in the 1950s, as well as correspondence detailing the 1946 dissolution of the corporation.