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The archive consists of correspondence, documents, writings, printed material, and photographs documenting the history of the G. & C. Merriam Company. The papers provide insight into the business practices of the nineteenth century publishing and bookselling trade, particularly in Massachusetts, and contain much material on lexicography, the development of American English, and the publishing history of Webster's Dictionary. Principal correspondents include Merriam Company editors Chauncey Goodrich, Noah Porter, William G. Webster, William A. Wheeler, and printers H.O. Houghton & Co. There are both legal and financial records, including contracts with agents and publishers, and opinions of lawyers on copyright issues.
There are sixty-five letterpress copybooks, as well as numerous account books, daybooks, merchants books, order books, and inventories, documenting the firm's business affairs. Twelve scrapbooks carry examples of the firm's stationery, circulars, advertisements, and clippings.