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Correspondence of Tapping Reeve, jurist, author, and teacher of law, and of his wife, Sarah Burr Reeve, sister of Aaron Burr (1756-1836). Correspondents include Joel Barlow, Aaron Burr, Peter Colt, Jonathan Edwards, Pierpont Edwards, Timothy Edwards, and John Cotton Smith. The letters relate to both family and business affairs.

Correspondence, reports, legal records, financial documents and genealogical material of Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Included are both family letters and political correspondence. Of special interest are the letters to Governor Jonathan Trumbull on the relationship of Connecticut to the prosecution of the war (1777-1780). Among Sherman's writings are a report from the Constitutional Convention (1787), a note on the proposal for a national bank (1791) and a printed copy of his Almanac for 1760. Genealogical and other papers assembled by Sherman's grandson, George Frisbie Hoar (1826-1904) are also in the collection. Major correspondents are Oliver Ellsworth, Samuel Hopkins, Titus Hosmer, Samuel Huntington, Stephen Mix Mitchell and William Williams.

The papers consist of correspondence, writings, genealogical notes, and other papers, principally of Edward Elbridge Salisbury, philologist, orientalist, and genealogist. Included are materials on various branches of Salisbury's family gathered in his genealogical research. Also included are papers and correspondence of Josiah Salisbury (1781-1826), Abigail Breese Salisbury (1780-1866), and business papers of Samuel Salisbury (1739-1818) and Stephen Salisbury (1746-1829). In addition there are also letters and papers of other family members.

The Webb papers consist of letterbooks, correspondence, journals, notebooks, orderly books, papers, and military records documenting the personal life and military career of Samuel Blachley Webb, who served in the American Revolutionary forces under Israel Putnam and George Washington. Notable correspondents include: Joseph Barrell, Silas Deane, Nathanael Greene, Alexander Hamilton, Robert Morris, Samuel Otis, Timothy Pickering, Jonathan Trumbull, George Washington, and Catharine Hogeboom Webb.

Correspondence and financial papers of Shadrach Osborn, a general merchant of Southbury, Connecticut, who was also active as a commissary during the Revolutionary War. Also included are the records of his business associate, Truman Hinman and his son, Erastus Osborn, who was sheriff of New Haven County. An account book for purchases from wholesale suppliers covers the period 1783-1792. The three letters in the papers are from Erastus Osborn. One dated 1812 describes a town-gown riot in New Haven, Connecticut and two written to his father in January 1824 report the discovery of a body stolen by Yale medical students from the West Haven, Connecticut burying ground.

The papers consist of correspondence, lectures, notebooks, diaries, journals, and other material documenting the personal lives and professional careers of the Silliman family, including Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864) and Benjamin Silliman, Jr. (1816-1885). Personal material details family life, relationships, social activities, and cultural pursuits. Professional material details the academic and literary interests of the Sillimans, particularly in chemistry, physics, and geology. The evolution and development of science, the beginnings of scientific instruction at Yale, and many related topics are documented. Material relating to John Trumbull and the Trumbull Art Gallery at Yale is also included. Family letters and journals offer observations on local and national events, as exemplified by Maggie Lindsley's journal and letters with Benjamin Silliman relating to the Civil War.

Family correspondence of John Woodruff and his son, Timothy Lester Woodruff. Included are several items documenting John Woodruff's career as a Congressman from Connecticut (1855-1857; 1859-1861) and his election on the American Party ticket. Also in the papers is a letter from Samuel Scott, an ancestor of the family, written while serving in the American Revolution.

The principal figures in these papers are Peter Verstille of Wethersfield and Hartford, Connecticut, his wife Naomi Ridgway Verstille, their children and grandchildren. Most of the papers consist of correspondence, but also included are financial and legal papers, among them accounts of the estate of Peter Verstille and lists of house furnishings. The largest part of the correspondence is the exchange of letters between Nancy and Charlotte Verstille, grandaughters of Peter Verstille. Both were teachers and discuss their experiences at schools in various parts of New England and the South. The letters of Nancy Verstille also include an account of an operation performed in 1817. The Dabney family of Massachusetts were major correspondents and their letters contain a description of the bankruptcy of the family in 1818.

The collection contains correspondence and other papers of President George Washington, Martha Dandridge Washington, and William Augustine Washington, half brother of George Washington.

Correspondence, financial records, and memorabilia of this Stamford, Connecticut family. The principal figure is David Waterbury (1722-1801), who served as a colonel in the French and Indian War and again in the American Revolution. Included in the papers are military records relating to these events and a letter to him from Roger Sherman (1776 Apr 30) about a Continental Commission. Also two travel journals kept by his son, William Waterbury IV, one for a trip throught New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware in 1799-1800 and another for a trip through New York State in 1812-1813.