The Manuscripts collection holds memoirs, diaries, correspondence, personal and business account books, scrapbooks, research notes, essays, certificates, one-room school material, and ephemera from the 19th and 20th centuries. Of special interest is the original petition by six proprietors to establish a "Common Field" (also known as Six Mile Island and Ely Meadows) along with the hand-written "Record of the Common Field of Lyme" with minutes, regulations, and management practices of the proprietors from 1748 to 1855.