Principals in this collection are the Yates family of Schenectady, New York, the Delancy family and James Duane (1733-1797) and his descendants. The major part of the papers is made up of financial and legal papers relating to land transactions in New York state between the 1760s and the 1820s. Included are leases, rent receipts, boundary agreements, survey field books, account books and charts. Most of the correspondence consists of letters from Yates family members to their land agent, Charles Fuller. Of these, approximately fifty were written by Ann Elizabeth Delancy Yates, widow of Joseph Christopher Yates, governor of New York state. Other correspondents are James Duane and his descendants and members of the Delancy family.