This collection contains documents written by or regarding prominent literary and historical figures between the years 1665 and 2005. The bulk of this collection dates from 1790 to 1900, and consists of primarily of letters and lithographs. Items from a disassembled nineteenth century autograph book include letters, lithographs, biographical sketches, and autographs. Items from a survey done by bibliographer and indexer William Maccrillis Griswold include completed questionnaires and letters. Other items in the collection include letters, postcards, and photographs.

Though figures represented in this collection are predominantly American or European, they are otherwise extremely varied. Items taken from the autograph book chiefly relate to British historical figures, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, Sir Humphrey Davy, and Lord Byron. Items from Griswold’s survey cover American authors, journalists, and academics active during the mid- to late- nineteenth century. Items from other sources include materials from New England authors, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sarah Orne Jewett, as well as Alfred Lord Tennyson and twentieth century Irish author Mary Lavin. Prominent individuals in American history include General John Burgoyne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Dorothea Dix, and several presidents. Materials created by and regarding religious figures, including Popes Pius X and XII, make up a significant portion of this collection and include both the oldest document - a letter penned in 1665 by Antonio Cardinal Bichi, a member of the College of Cardinals under Pope Alexander the VII - and the most recent document, a 2005 letter from J. LeFarge to Mother Marie Lufkin of the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, Connecticut.