This collection consists of letters and papers, 1821-1939, relating mainly to Dr. Samuel Waldron Lambert, Sr. The earliest item is a letter in French to Mme. Eliza (Bowen) Jumel signed Adele and endorsed De cubieres, written probably in 1821, presented to Lambert by W. L. Hardin. The next item is a letter of 1862 from Horace Greeley introducing J. H. Lambert. With the exception of a few items pertainig to Samuel W. Lambert, Jr., such as his autograph album, the remainder of the collection relates to Samuel W. Lambert, Sr.

Making up the bulk of the correspondence are letters and telegrams, 1932 and undated, to lambert from Senator Hiram Bingham relating to attempts to modify the Volstead Act, and letters from others, 1923-1932, concerning prohibition and the medical use of alcohol. Corresponents include the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, Benjamin N. Cardoza and Dr. Robert lewis; there are also papers on the Hastings medical liquor bill in the New York State Senate, accompanied by a letter from Dr. Harold Rypins to Dr. Linsly W. Williams, April 13, 1931. Other materials of Lamort's on rohibition and liquor (two small notebooks, loose notes, speeches and other writings, newpaper clippings and printed matter) are also included in this collection.

Other items in the correspondence include a letter from lambert to Dr. Samuel C. G. Watkins on recent research on scarlet fever, enclosing a leaflet about the lilly Company's new Scarlet Fever Streptococcus Antitoxin (1925); areport by Dr. E. M. Bluestone to the Public Health Relations committee of the New York Academy on the establishemnt of a hospital for chronic patients on Welfare Island(1934); a reprint of Dr. Smith Ely Jellifes' Aesculapius and Lzaak Walton, with notes by lampert on Walton and Charles Cotton (1993); Henry Osborn Taylor's memorial to his wife, "Julia Isham taylor," with accompanying letters (1934); Lambert's annotated copy of the Milbank Fund Quarterly (1934); letters from the Bibliophile society (1901-1915) and the Grolier Club, including one each from Bliss Perry (1926) and Henry T. Peters (1928); and a letter from Edward S. Dana (1879).

Also in the collection are several miscellaneous items such as bills, recipts, and assorted printed matter.

Yale University acquired these papers by a gift from the estate of Samuel W. Lambert in 1943.