Jacques Judah Lyons, hazzan, rabbi and community leader, was born in Surinam and emigrated to Philadelphia in the early 1800s. Minister of the New York Congregation Shearith Israel for 38 years, he gathered extensive materials on early Jewish history in the United States, Canada and the West Indies. His papers include manuscripts, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, notebooks, photographs and a Sansom ship's log book. Contains material relating to Jews in North and South America generally and more specifically to Congregation Shearith Israel and the Jews in New York, the Touro Synagogue and cemetery and the Jews in Newport, Rhode Island, Philadelphia and the West Indies. Also contains material relating to Jews in the wars of the United States, correspondence of the Jews with George Washington and items relating to Haym Salomon. Collection consists of manuscript material and five notebooks and three scrapbooks of Lyons. Contains also material not listed in calendar consisting of sermons by Lyons, a manuscript prayer book used in Surinam and a guide for religious ceremonies at Congregation Shearith Israel, as well as letters written during the Civil War period and correspondence relating to the personal life and career of Lyons.

Samuel Dodd was an American United Presbyterian missionary in Ningbo, China and Hangzhou, China; Samuel Thompson Carter Dodd was his eldest son, born in Ningbo, China. The collection contains a copy of Samuel Dodd's 1861-1877 journal typed and with notes by his son, as well as correspondence and photographs.

Eda Rapoport was a Jewish American composer and pianist. Her papers are comprised primarily of manuscripts of musical scores arranged by Rapoport, as well as commercially-printed music. The collection also features recordings of performances of Rapoport's works dating from 1939 to 1966.

The Ta-Chun Hsu papers (徐大春檔案) document his personal life and provide a glimpse of his career in China and in the United States. The bulk of the papers consist of correspondence related to his family and his personal life as a Chinese-American and an immigrant living in New York. The correspondence also highlights his relation to a prominent Chinese educator and philosopher, Hu Shih (胡適) and his family. There are also materials related to his father, Hsu Singloh (徐新六), who was a major finance and banking leader during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Also included are immigration and travel documents of T.C. Hsu. Other materials also include news clippings, articles, financial records, printed materials, portraits and photographs, maps and postcards.

The Chester Carlson Family Papers include a correspondence exchanged between Carlson and his relatives from 1951-1968, as well as letters written to the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory from 1956-1968. Perhaps most significant are the materials related to patents that Carlson developed and his writings about xerography. The collection also includes Carlson's personal journals written from 1931-1968. There are also speeches delivered byween 1954 and 1968. There is a large body of biographical materials created by Carlson as well as others who knew him. Included in the collection as scrapbooks with articles documenting Carlson's life and legacy from 1940-1968. There are also numerous items related to the Xerox Corporation, specifically the 1968 annual report, sales publications from the 1980s, as well as news and articles written about the company.

Dr. Gordis' diary gives his impressions of the University of Rochester during his years as an undergraduate.

Papers, circa 1878 to 1935, of Darwin D. Martin (1865-1935) of Buffalo, New York, an official of the Larkin Company and an early client of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Part of the collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, notes, military diaries, maps and printed materials that pertain to World War I. Some materials deal with the Civil War, Polish history, medieval Russia and Lithuania, and the history of Russian education. Several folders contain military orders, "prikazy", dating from the early 1900s to about 1925. There are also genealogical materials concerning Russian nobility and Goshtovt's family. The maps primarily concern World War I and the Civil War; also included are a postal map of Russia in 1860, and a map of transportation routes in 1887. The printed materials include clippings, and bulletins published by various emigre military organizations. Most of the books in the collection pertain to the German army during World War I.

Material relating to the Worden and Chesebro families of Canandaigua, New York. Consists of family genealogical records compiled by Mrs. Robert H. Chesebro, 1963, or copied by her from the originals; and Xerox copies of four scrapbooks kept by Frances (Worden) Chesebro (1826-1909), the niece of Mrs. William H. Seward, which contain letters from family and friends, newspaper clippings of deaths of family and friends, and invitations. Also a diary (1854 or 5 - 1931) kept by Margaret McJannet, nursemaid for Frank Chesebro, on a trip to Nassau, Bahamas in 1859-60.

Charles Augustus Stoddard was a Presbyterian clergyman, editor, and writer. The collection contains newspaper clippings and religious service bulletins, sermons and prayers, professional correspondence, genealogical materials including family trees and photographs, personal correspondence, a journal and a diary.