The Bragdon Family Papers are predominantly composed of the personal papers of architect, author, and theater designer Claude Fayette Bragdon but also include those of his parents, sister, wives and children. Included is the correspondence of Claude F. Bragdon with his family and others, including Gelett Burgess, Walter Hampden, Norman Kent, Jiddu Krishnamurti, Kathleen Cunningham, Llewelyn Powys, J.B. Priestley, Nikolai Roerich, Alfred Stieglitz, Peter Uspenskii, John Van Druten, Tennessee Williams, and Frank Lloyd Wright. There are also publications and manuscripts by Bragdon; financial and legal papers; photos of buildings he designed; drawings of stage sets; scores for color music; diaries, 1877-79, 1908-12, 1924-46; scrapbooks; records of the Manas Press; and memorabilia. The correspondence and manuscripts of his sons, Henry W. and Chandler, his father George C. Bragdon, and that of his wives, including the spirit communications of his second wife are included. In addition, the diaries of Kathleen Shipherd Bragdon, 1860-1920; letters and papers of Fayette Shipherd and family; scrapbooks and diaries of May Bragdon; family photographs; and genealogical data; and documents relating to building of Selkirk Bethel Church (Point Ontario, New York, 1848-55) are contained in the collection.

The Caulkins Family Papers consists of three series: Caulkins Family Papers and Photographs, 1810-1931; Edward Dana Caulkins, 1896-1974; and Recreation, 1923-1974. The first series includes materials that chronicle the growth of the Caulkins family. There is genealogical information compiled by E. Dana Caulkins, family photographs, Daniel Douglas Caulkins's writing and financial documents, correspondence between family members, and T. Vassar Caulkins's sermons from 1884-1938 as well as a scrapbook documenting his tenure as the minister at the First Baptist Church. The second series includes materials from E. Dana Caulkins's education at Suffield Academy, the University of Rochester and Columbia University. The series also consists of correspondence Caulkins wrote to his future wife, Ruth Smallwood, as well as to family members. This series documents Caulkins's early career working for municipal recreation organizations, speeches and articles from 1916-1945. The third series documents the development of recreation and its importance to young adult and adult health, both in the United States and internationally. Included in this series are alphabetized organizational files, with materials from the American Park and Recreation Association and other organizations, as well as subject files, with materials related to recreation in specific states and cities. Also included are printed materials and newspaper clippings related to recreation.

Correspondence, notes, research transcripts, coin photographs and pictures, and original eighteenth century documents, all relating to Douglas’s research into post-1783 U.S. state coinage.

The collection includes correspondence, photographs, genealogical data, diaries, programs, clippings, legal and financial papers, and memorabilia of Nelson P. Darling and his son Frank Nelson Darling. There are letters from Billie Burke, Anton Long, Gustav C. Luders, Leopold Stokowski, and Florenz Ziegfield.

The Duncan Blanchard papers document Blanchards career as a research associate at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and as a senior research associate at the State University of New York at Albany.

The Ellwanger and Barry Papers includes the records of Ellwanger and Barry Nursery to 1918, including correspondence, order books, sketchbooks, stock record books, catalogs, price lists, inventories, and account books; records of Ellwanger and Barry Realty Company to 1963, including financial and legal papers, account books, payroll records, and blueprints for houses on the Ellwanger and Barry tract. Also business and personal correspondence, account books, and financial records of Patrick Barry, Charles P. and Julia Wald Barry, Bernard and Harriet Barry Liesching, and Arthur A. Barry, including much information about Rochester banks and civic organizations. Also family photographs and scrapbooks; memorabilia; diaries of Patrick Barry, 1857-72; and record of soldiers' bounties, 1862-1863.

The Emma Biddlecom Sweet Papers includes correspondence from her friend, Carrie Chapman Catt, as well as other correspondents, including Lucy E. Anthony, Mary S. Anthony, Susan B. Anthony, Mary T. L. Gannett, William Channing Gannett, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Maud Nathan, Rush Rhees, Anna Howard Shaw and Booker T. Washington. Many of the letters are in connection with a lecture series sponsored by the Political Equality Club. Other material in the collection consists of manuscript and printed records of the national and local suffrage movement and photographs. Suffrage pamphlets that were also part of the collection are now cataloged and shelved with the Department's book collection. Also found in the collection are personal legal papers, financial records, and photographs related to Emma B. Sweet, her family, and her husband Fred G. Sweet, who was an employee of the City of Rochester.

The collection includes letters to Juliett Woodworth (Mrs. Henry Fellows, in 1865) of Penfield, from various members of the Woodworth and Mead families, particularly from Mayfield, Fulton Co., N.Y. and from Michigan. Letters written during the Civil War from William N. Woodworth of the 140th New York Volunteers and Silas W. Allen of the 4th Michigan Battery. Letters from James Moore of the 108th New York Volunteers to John Fellows, Penfield, concerning the Civil War and various personal financial matters. Letters to Henry Fellows (Jr.) concerning financial matters.

The collection consists of correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, and other memorabilia belonging to the Hanford family of Scottsville, New York.

Correspondence, documents, diaries, physician's "visiting books," household accounts, photographs, and memorabilia of various members of the Hayes-Coleman family of Canandaigua, New York. They are primarily concerned with the Canandaigua area, but they include, either in the original or in transcript, diaries and letters relating to Frederick, Maryland, Brooklyn, New York, ranch life in Colorado, and the life of an art student in Paris in 1890. Transcripts of practically all of the material, with illustrations and careful documentation, have been made by Mrs. Elizabeth Hayes Goddard.