The collection consists of addresses, press releases, memoranda proclamations, and other papers by and in regard to Charles Seymour Whitman (1868-1347) who was the District Attorney of New York County from 1910 to 1914 and Governor of New York State from 1915 to 1918. The material ranges in date from 1910 to 1937. The material is confined for the most part to drafts of the Governor's speeches to various groups on such subjects as the NEW YORK STATE PENAL CODE, unification of state laws, public health, education, and agriculture. Also, a typed memorandum on Whitman's ancestry and a few miscellaneous items. There are not papers or correspondence of a personal nature in the collection. The material is mostly in typescript. There is also a microfilm of Lt. Charles F. Becker's testimony in the Rosenthal murder case.

New York State Governor, 1885-1891; U.S. Senator, 1891-1897. Collection contains incoming and outgoing correspondence (chiefly political), legal papers and memorabilia.

Includes some of Thaw's letters to his lawyer, A. Russell Peabody, from the Tombs prison and Matteawan State Hospital; portions of the trial transcript; letters to Thaw; photographs of Peabody and letters by him; and a large scrapbook (45 x 33 x 10 cm.) of newspaper clippings about the murder and its aftermath, including extensive coverage of Thaw's wife, Evelyn Nesbit Thaw.