The Horsford Family Papers comprises a collection of papers created by various members of the Horsford, Gardiner, and L'Hommedieu families.

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.

Letters, manuscripts, printed ephemera and photoreproductions collected by Saffron. The collection reflects Dr. Saffron's two avocations: book collecting and the history of medicine. Of particular importance are three reels of microfilms of Hunterian manuscripts at the University of Glasgow Library. William Hunter (1718-1783) was a Scottish physician. In addition, there is an autograph signed manuscript by John Martyn titled "To the Author of the Grubstreet Journal" 1731-32; letters published in "The Grub-Street Journal" concerning Richard Bentley's edition of Milton; a letter from Stephen Phillips to [Sir Sidney Colvin]; and poetry of Emily Winthrop Miles

The M. Watt Espy papers chronicle the extensive research efforts that led to the creation of the Capital Punishment Research Project and the database known as the Espy File. Espy spent three decades gathering and indexing documentation of legal executions in the United States. His papers contain both primary and secondary sources used to catalog thousands of instances of capital punishment in the United States and its territories since the 1600s. The collection includes material from corrections records, newspapers, county histories, legal proceedings, and books. In addition to the records pertaining specifically to the death penalty, there is also a selection of magazines collected by Espy that cover true crime stories as well as life in the American Old West.

The Teunis G. Bergen and Bergen family collection comprises the papers of Teunis G. Bergen (1806-1881), as well as the papers of other Bergen family and extended family members. Materials in the collection span the years 1639 to 1893, and primarily document Bergen's role as a major civic and community figure in Brooklyn, as well as his family's history. In addition to his work as a farmer and surveyor, Teunis G. Bergen served on the Kings County Board of Supervisors as Supervisor of New Utrecht, NY, and in 1864, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat to the Thirty-ninth Congress. He was also known for his expertise in genealogy and local history, and published several articles and books on these topics. Highlights of the collection include maps, surveys, and map tracings of various Brooklyn locales drafted by Bergen; extensive materials pertaining to Bergen's research and publishing on local history and genealogy; and research materials on Bergen family genealogy.