Collection consists of 169 19th century American photographs. Included are 115 carte-de-visites, 40 cabinet portraits, 2 albums, 11 miscellaneous photographs and 1 envelope of miscellaneous business and greeting cards.

Most are albumen type photographs depicting various people including infants, children, and adults. The photographs come from various studios across the United States though the majority come from studios in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Illinois. The photographs, since rehoused, were originally housed in two albums decorated with an intricate relief on the cover and a metal clasp lock.

One photograph album capturing moments of gender expression in the early 20th Century. The album contains family and school photographs, and the images of gender expression centre around a group of students on what appears to be a school trip in Pennsylvania. People who appear to be assigned female at birth are shown wearing typical male clothing of the time, or dressed en homme, and people who appear to be assigned male at birth are shown wearing typical female clothing of the time, or dressed en femme. Beginning in the 1840s laws were passed across the United States criminalizing the act of appearing in public “in a dress not belonging to his or her sex" and the activities of this group of students would have still been illegal at this time. It is unclear if the people in the images are cross-dressing as a form of gender expression, entertainment or sexual fetish, or if they are transgender or gender non-conforming.

Photograph album compiled by Mabel E. Neiley during her time working as a nurse in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps. Album reflects the life of a Canadian woman who emigrated to the United States in the early 20th Century and worked in the medical profession during the First World War and the 1918 Influenza pandemic.

Album includes photographs and postcards featuring photographs of the experiences of Mabel E. Neiley during her time as a U.S. Army nurse. Photographs capture nurses in uniform at the hospitals and barracks, nurses taking care of patients, nurses socializing with each other and with soldiers, and nursing posing in different areas of the hospital facilities. Album also contains photographs of soldiers by themselves and official visits (including one of possibly Edith and Woodrow Wilson).

According to annotations in some photographs, images were taken at Walter Reed hospital (Washinton DC, U.S.A), Camp Gordon (Georgia, U.S.A), and Columbus Barracks (Ohio, U.S.A).

Fonds consists of one scrapbook assembled by Ethel and Anne Longfellow during their attendance at Smith College, Massachusetts between 1902-1906. The scrapbook contains correspondence, photographs, programmes, clippings, notes and ephemera detailing the academic and social life of the sisters.