Contains items from the Borthwick, Smith, and Strong Families including correspondence, diaries, family histories, financial papers, land records, a school notebook, and a manuscript cookbook. Additional material includes two woman's diaries, land records, a history of the Bushnell Family, and Hattie E. Kurtz's school notebook. Of unusual interest is a black & white photograph of Abraham Lincoln taken by Matthew Brady in Washington, DC in 1864.

The Pruyn Family Papers contains documents relating to three consecutive generations of the John Pruyn Family, along with genealogies and personal papers of more distant family relations. An autograph collection of presidents, statesmen, and local historic figures is included. The ownership of 43-45 North Pearl Street is documented from the first sale in 1679 to the last in 1968. The estates of Eleanor Erving, Justine Bayard Erving and Van Rensselaer Pruyn are also documented.

The Meadows collection is comprised of documents, papers, and photographs collected by the families that owned The Meadows mansion in Cazenovia, NY. These families include The Ledyards, The Hubbards, and The Oakmans, providing a snapshot of the personal life of an upper class family during the mid 1800s to the 1950s. Please see the scope and content note for a more in depth description of the collection.