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The Gideon Aldrich collection contains material related to Aldrich's time at the Friends' Boarding School in Providence, Rhode Island, in the early 1850s, the bulk of which consists of his incoming correspondence from family and friends.

The Gideon Aldrich collection contains material related to Aldrich's time at the Friends' Boarding School in Providence, Rhode Island, in the early 1850s. His mother Phebe and several of his siblings, particularly Mary, wrote many of the earliest letters in the collection. In their letters, they updated him on the events that colored their daily lives, and often alluded to their devout Quaker beliefs; several of the letters from December 1850 relate to a measles outbreak reported at the Friends' School. Gideon's friends wrote most of the later letters, in which they expressed their affinity for a variety of personal interests, including baseball (March 17, 1852), sleighing, and other leisure activities. One letter from Huldah H. Sawyer paints a picture of early San Francisco, extolling the weather but lamenting the frequency of death in the city and the questionable morality of local women (February 11, 1853). Together, the letters represent the concerns and daily happenings of Quaker life in mid-19th century Massachusetts. In addition to the correspondence, the collection also holds three books used by Gideon Aldrich while at school; these include two penmanship exercise books and a composition book, which contains essays on topics such as a Quaker quarterly meeting, a description of Uxbridge, and a "Skating Party" (1851). Other material within the collection includes an 1853 valentine, several quotation cards, and a newspaper clipping.

This collection is primarily made up of letters that Joseph Stokes received while attending the Westtown School in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the early 1840s. His parents, Nathaniel Newlin and Nancy Evans Stokes, wrote most of the letters, though he also corresponded with aunts, cousins, and friends. Most items pertain to family news from Westfield, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

This collection is primarily made up of letters that Joseph Stokes received while attending the Westtown School in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the early 1840s. His parents, N. N. (Nathaniel Newlin) and N. E. (Nancy Evans) Stokes, wrote most of the letters from their home in Westfield, New Jersey; N. N. Stokes also wrote from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After 1842, some of the letters are addressed to both Joseph and John Stokes; one undated item is addressed to Anna Stokes, who also attended the Westtown School.

The Stokes family letters largely concern personal news of family members and friends, including members of the Stokes, Bispham, Lippincott, and Sharpless families, some of whom lived in Moorestown, New Jersey. They reported on the state of their farm in Westfield, where they raised cattle and hogs, and grew wheat, oats, potatoes, and corn. Some of the letters contain academic advice for Joseph and, later, his brother John. As the eldest of his siblings, the parents encouraged Joseph to set a good example; they once chastised John for the content of a previous letter (February 16, 1844). The letter of January 28, 1842, includes a description of a recent episode in which several members of the Stokes family fainted as a result of a gas leak in their stove. Joseph's aunts, cousins, and friends wrote similar letters, requesting news of his time at school and discussing their lives in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; one cousin reported on his pet pigeons and squirrel. Some of Joseph's friends reminisced about their time at Westtown School.