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The James M. Smith family collection consists of Smith's incoming and outgoing correspondence concerning New York state politics, economic conditions, railroad development, and family news, as well as genealogical materials relating to the Smith family.

The James M. Smith family collection (121 items) contains letters and other materials related to James Murdock Smith of northern New York. The Correspondence series (114 items) includes Smith's correspondence from 1834-1889. Smith received 33 letters from his father, H. D. Smith, whose letters often pertain to politics, railroad construction and finance, and economic conditions in New York State. Among other subjects, he mentioned improvements to the town of Gouverneur (September 3, 1856), "unusually frequent" bankruptcies in Ogdensburg (January 3, 1854), Democratic Party factions, the Know-Nothings, and slavery and abolitionists. Smith's professional correspondence includes letters from New York Congressman Solomon G. Haven, who discussed the Dred Scott case (January 13, 1857), and from philanthropist Philo Parsons, who wrote about his plans to build a large park in Detroit, Michigan (December 8, 1873).

The series also contains personal letters that Smith received from family members, including his mother, Harriet Smith; his sisters, Esther M. Thrall and Louisa L. Anthony; and his aunt, Esther Doty. The Smith family reported news of Gouverneur, New York, and Doty commented on life in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in the 1850s, where she encountered mixed-race Native Americans (December 3, 1851). Many of the later letters concern James M. Smith's interest in genealogy. Smith also wrote 6 letters to his wife, Margaret, mentioning a cholera epidemic (August 28, 1852) and travel in southern Wisconsin (November 16, 1862), among other topics.

The Genealogy, Writings, and Ephemera series (7 items) includes 3 essays about the family of H. D. Smith, a political speech, and a newspaper clipping and printed advertisement regarding a historical work by R.W. Judson.

This scrapbook contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other material related to Samuel P. Lyman, a lawyer from Utica, New York. Most items are incoming letters to Lyman about his involvement with the Anti-Masonic Party and Whig Party in the 1820s and 1830s.

This scrapbook (10" x 14") contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other material related to Samuel P. Lyman, a lawyer from Utica, New York. The volume's primary contents consist of around 230 letters, newspaper clippings, and documents about Samuel P. Lyman's political interests and professional career. Lyman frequently received letters from New York residents such as Robert H. Backus, Thomas Beekman, and William N. Maynard, and his nationally prominent correspondents included Thurlow Weed, Edward Everett, Daniel Webster, Millard Fillmore, William H. Seward, Henry Clay, and Rufus Choate. Most of the correspondence pertains to the Anti-Masonic Party, the Whig Party, and New York state politics. Some letters from the mid-1830s concern national elections and the careers of John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster.

Other manuscript items include speech notes and occasional diary entries. Newspaper clippings often reprint accounts of Anti-Masonic Party conventions, in which Lyman frequently participated. Other clippings, circular letters, and reports relate to temperance societies, the Utica Female Academy, and the New York and Erie Railroad. Also included are invitations, menus, certificates, a political cartoon, a ribbon, and numerous calling cards.

The Victor Rice papers contain correspondence and printed items related to education in the state of New York in the mid-19th century and to the Spencerian system of penmanship, which Rice helped develop.

The Victor Rice papers contain correspondence and printed items related to education in the state of New York in the mid-19th century and to the Spencerian system of penmanship, which Rice helped develop.

The Correspondence series (over 500 items) is made up of personal and professional letters to Victor Rice from family members and various other correspondents. His father William sent family news from Clymer, New York, and also discussed financial and legal matters. Other letters pertain largely to education and to Rice's position as superintendent for public instruction for the state of New York. Some concern the Spencerian penmanship system, which Rice developed with Platt Rogers Spencer. State and national political issues are occasionally mentioned, and Rice received at least one letter from a soldier during the Civil War. Contributors include Horace Greeley, Platt Rogers Spencer, and James Theodore Holly, and the collection has few outgoing letters by Victor Rice. Items from the 1870s are personal letters between members of the Rice family.

• The Dignity of Teaching. An Address to the Graduating Class of the State Normal School, January 28, 1857, by E. P. Rogers (1857, 24 pages)
• Views of P. R. Spencer, V. M. Rice and J. W. Lusk on Penmanship as a Profession, with an Inquiry as to the Proper Distinction Between the Office of an Author and Editor, by Warren P. Spencer (December 12, 1866, 8 pages)
• An Autobiography of the Man with an "Assumed Name," to which Is Added the Story of the Book Entitled the "Spencerian Key", by Warren P. Spencer (1866)
• Asa Packer. A Memorial Address, Delivered by Request of the Faculty of the Lehigh University, on University Day, June 19, 1879, by Henry Coppée (8 pages)
• Spencer Family History and Genealogy, by Robert C. Spencer (1889, 26 pages)