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.

Fonds consists of one painting by Peter Etril Snyder of the Dana Porter Library. The work was commissioned in 1975 for the home of the then President of the University, Burt Matthews.

21 glass plate negatives showing people and buildings around the former town of Newbridge, Ontario.

Collection contains prints of Canadian landscapes done by William Henry Bartlett in 1841 and portraits of prominent 17th and 18th century politicians from Europe and Canada. Also included are letters from English prime ministers dating around the 1700s. The collection is arranged in one series consisting of print engravings, a file of Bartlett prints, and a scrapbook containing letters.