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The Binney family papers, compiled by Boston real estate agent Amos Binney in the late 1800s, contain correspondence, documents, newspapers, and photographs related to his ancestors John Binney, Amos Binney, and Horace Binney, Jr. John and Amos Binney served in the War of 1812, and Horace was a lawyer in Philadelphia. The collection also includes a published copy of Genealogy of the Binney Family in the United States, with manuscript annotations and enclosures.

Amos Binney, a Boston real estate agent, compiled the Binney papers (57 items) in the late 1800s. They include correspondence, documents, newspapers, and photographs related to his ancestors John Binney, Amos Binney, and Horace Binney, Jr.

The Correspondence and Documents series, originally housed in a red leather file folder, consists of several thematically distinct groups of material. The first is a series of six letters that Captain John Binney wrote to his brother Amos between 1809 and 1811, about his military service near Wiscasset, Maine. He defended his honor against recent defamations, discussed supplies for the forts under his command, and commented on the international tension immediately preceding the War of 1812. This group also includes an indenture for land Binney purchased in Plymouth County, Massachusetts (October 18, 1813).

The next group of items is a pair of legal documents concerning Horace Binney, Jr., and a transaction involving land in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The documents list payments made between 1844 and 1852. The third group is a set of three letters between the younger Amos Binney and the United States auditor of the treasury concerning the Binney family genealogy. Binney requested information about Amos and John, his ancestors (particularly their military service), and received responses from Samuel Blackwell (August 18, 1894) and F. M. Ramsay (September 5, 1894). The series also holds an undated letter written by John A. Binney and a map showing property bordered by North, East, Bridge, and Short Streets in an unknown town.

• Nonconsecutive issues of the Boston Castigator, bound together (August 7, 1822-October 2, 1822)
• The Independent Bostonian (October 5, 1822)
• American Statesman and Evening Advertiser, with several additional clippings pertaining to Amos Binney's service as navy agent in Boston (November 18, 1822)
• Bostonian & Mechanics' Journal (November 23, 1822)
• Boston Patriot & Daily Mercantile Advertiser (November 25, 1824)

The third series is a printed, annotated copy of Genealogy of the Binney Family in the United States , which includes enclosures compiled by the younger Amos Binney in the 1890s. Several entries, such as those on Amos and John Binney, have margin notes. The annotations and loose items provide additional information on the family's history, and include family trees, letters between the younger Amos Binney and his uncle, and photographs of Binney family residences and graves.

The Dering Family papers contain correspondence received by Thomas Dering, a New York State congressman, and other members of the Dering family. Several letters are from Nathaniel Ray Thomas (d. 1791), a Loyalist from Massachusetts, and his wife, Sarah Dering Thomas; these concern both personal and business matters. Also included are letters from Republican Congressman and Sag Harbor resident Ebenezer Sage.

The Dering Family papers contain 133 correspondence received by Thomas Dering and other members of the Dering family, as well as 1 book, 1 newspaper clipping, and 1 photograph. 20 letters are from Nathaniel Ray Thomas (d. 1791), a Loyalist from Marshfield, Massachusetts, to Thomas Dering at Boston. 16 of these are dated 1755, and discuss business dealings and family affairs. Thomas's wife, Sarah Dering Thomas, wrote approximately 10 letters to Thomas and 15 to her nephew Sylvester between 1755 and 1800. These concern family life, hardships suffered from maintaining loyalist sentiments during the American Revolution, her ongoing health issues, and difficulties encountered in Nova Scotia after the war. In a letter dated April 16, 1800, to Sylvester, she commented on British and French interference of U.S. shipping and trade.

The collection contains 50 letters from Ebenezer Sage to his friend Henry Dering in the period 1806-1815, from Sage’s time in Washington, DC. Sage described his experiences in Congress: committee meetings, legislative updates, foreign affairs, and the social scene in Washington, DC. In particular, he discussed the debate on the national bank, the war hawks in Congress, efforts to have gun boats defend Sag Harbor, reports of enemy fleets off the Potomac, and news of the American victory at New Orleans in 1815. One letter by Ebenezer Sage gives an account of a reception for First Lady Dolley Madison (February 21, 1810). Additional letters are from Sage's daughter, Frances Mary Sage, to her friend Frances Dering. The letters convey a strong friendship between the women and their desire to spend time together. A letter from November 28, 1813, contains a drawing of a bouquet by Frances Sage.

The Thomas and Dering families were friends with the influential Nova Scotia residents, John and Frances Wentworth. Several letters reference their visits in Nova Scotia, and a letter from Sarah Dering Thomas to Elizabeth Gardiner mentions Sir John Wentworth being appointed governor of Nova Scotia (1792). In one letter to Thomas Dering, dated January 6, 1784, Lady Frances Wentworth (in New York City), enclosed a newspaper announcement for her wedding in 1769. In this letter, she wrote about the difficulty of finding a ship to take her away from New York City during the British occupation. The Dering Family Papers also include a postcard of John Singleton Copley's portrait of Frances Wentworth from the Lenox Collection of the New York Public Library (enclosed in Wentworth’s 1784 letter).

This collection contains A Sketch of Dr. John Smith Sage of Sag Harbor, N.Y., a book by Anna Mulford, published in 1897 in Sag-Harbor by J.H. Hunt. The book includes a biographical account of John Sage, and mentions members of the Dering family. It also contains “some interesting letters of his father, Dr. Ebenezer Sage, written in the early part of the century, and other matters relating to Sag-Harbor.”