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The Alexander Thompson papers consist of the papers of three generations of Thompsons: Captain Alexander Thompson (1759-1809), Colonel Alexander Ramsey Thompson (1793-1837), and Reverend Alexander Ramsey Thompson (1822-1895). These papers document the military service of Captain Thompson in United States army (1793-1809); Colonel Thompson's military service (1819-1837); attempts by Colonel Thompson's widow Mary Thompson to secure a military pension (1838-1849); and the career of Reverend Thompson, a Union Army chaplain and Presbyterian minister, along with his family letters (1850-1932).

The Alexander Thompson papers (653 items) consist of the papers of three generations of Thompsons: Captain Alexander Thompson (1759-1809), Colonel Alexander Ramsey Thompson (1793-1837), and Reverend Alexander Ramsey Thompson (1822-1895). The collection is comprised of 494 letters and documents, 1 diary, 25 photographs, 103 religious writings and hymns, and 30 items of printed material. These papers document the military service of Captain Thompson in the United States Army (1793-1809); Colonel Thompson's military service (1819-1837); attempts by Colonel Thompson's widow, Mary Thompson, to secure a military pension (1838-1849); and the career of Reverend Thompson, Union Army chaplain and Presbyterian minister, along with his family letters (1850-1932).

The Correspondence and Documents series (494 items) is made up of three subseries, one for each Alexander Thompson represented in the collection.

The Captain Alexander Thompson subseries (255 items) consists of letters and documents related to Thompson's army career, including 37 military records (pay rolls, musters, and accounts) and 14 provisional returns. The bulk of the letters are to and from the war office in Philadelphia and from fellow army officers. These provide administrative documentation for the fledgling American military, as well as specific details on Thompson's assignments at Governor's Island, West Point, Fort Niagara, and Detroit. Topics covered include his efforts to provision and pay his troops, fortify his outposts, and recruit soldiers.

• April 19, May 7 and 24, and June 20, 1795: Letters from Thompson to New York Governor George Clinton, concerning the French navy and the fort at Governor's Island
• July 9, 15, and 18, 1795: Letters between Colonel Louis de Tousard and Thompson concerning prisoners, troops, and musicians at Governor's Island
• December 5, 1795: Letter fromThompson to Alexander Hamilton concerning a lawsuit involving Thompson's professional conduct at Governor's Island
• March 29, 1796: Letter to Thompson warning of a mutiny on Governor's Island
• September 14, 1800: Letter from Thompson to John Jacob Ulrich Rivardi concerning small pox at Detroit
• February 17, 1801: Letter from Thompson to Major Moses Porter, concerning filling the United States officer corps with Americans instead of foreign commanders
• January 20, 1803: May 1 and August 24, 1807: Letters and bills to and from Thompson and Secretary of War Henry Dearborn concerning payments for travel
• October 15, 1804: Instructions from Thompson to Doctor Frances La Barons concerning trading for pelts at Michilimackinac
• September 1807: News from a friend in St. Louis describing army activities there

The Colonel Alexander R. Thompson subseries (137 items) documents his post-War of 1812 military career, and his wife's efforts to secure a pension after his death. These include letters from fellow officers and friends, a few retained copies of Thompson's letters, and 55 letters to and from Mary Thompson and various prominent government officials concerning military pensions. In many of Mary's letters she described episodes in her husband's military career, including wounds and sicknesses suffered while on duty.

• November 27, 1816: Captain Kearny at Sackets Harbor to Thompson concerning securing pay to Mrs. Niblock for washing clothes for the army
• January 12, 1817: Major W.J. Worth at Sackets Harbor to Thompson describing a celebration at the newly build Madison Barracks
• May 13, 1833: George Brooke at Fort Howard (Green Bay) to Thompson describing his journey across Lake Huron
• August 28, 1833: Benjamin F. Larneal to Thompson concerning shipping a piano to Michigan
• April 28, 1836: Thompson to his nephew Alexander Thompson, describing the encampment and fortifications at Camp Sabine, Louisiana, and the lawless state of Texas - "the country is consequently infested with robbers and pirates
• February 21, 1837: Mary Thompson to General Winfield Scott seeking a promotion for her sick husband
• March 6, 1840: Mary to her brother-in-law William Thompson, relating her difficulties securing a pension
• 1842-1845: Letters to and from Mary Thompson to New York Governor Hamilton Fish and members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, including John Jordan Crittenden and Thomas Hart Benton
• October 8, 1847: E. Backay at San Juan to Mary Thompson containing a description of the Mexican-American War
• March 13, 1853: Department of the Interior to Mary Thompson concerning her request for a land bounty

The Reverend Alexander R. Thompson subseries (102 items) contains Thompson's letters and 25 of his children's letters. Of note are the items documenting his Civil War service as chaplain of the 17th Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers and at the Roosevelt Hospital. These include many letters from solders and former parishioners serving throughout the country. Also present are letters discussing Thompson and his family's travels around New York and New England, and to the Canary Islands, Quebec, and San Francisco. The post-1872 letters largely concern Thompson's children.

• November 28, 1861: Albion Brooks to Thompson describing the soldier's Thanksgiving dinner at Burnside Camp, Annapolis, Maryland
• January 16, 1862: Leonard Woolsey Bacon to Thompson concerning chaplains' aids
• July 2, 1863: A small diagram of the Union fleet on the Mississippi River in front of Vicksburg
• June 4, 1864: Moses Smith of the 8th Connecticut Regiment to Thompson describing the battle at Cold Harbor
• September 25, 1865: E.A. Russell to Thompson describing hearing Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" on board a steam ship: "I feel like after hearing it sung like one inspired for the work. I do think it is very near Gods work."
• September 27, 1865: Five verses of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" copied on board the Steamship United States
• September 23, 1871: Gin Bon, secretary of the Chinese Young Men's Christian Society of San Francisco, to Thompson concerning his support of the group and enclosing four photographs of members

The Diary series (1 item, 372 pages) is the personal journal of Reverend Alexander Ramsey Thompson for 1861. The diary is deeply personal and includes Thompson's thoughts on personal, spiritual, and political matters, as well as his thoughts on the outbreak of the Civil War and his decision to join the army as a chaplain. In the back of the diary are 5 newspaper clippings concerning New York University commencements.

• April 13 and 16, 1861: Thoughts on the siege and bombardment at Fort Sumter
• July 22 and 24, 1861: Thoughts on First Bull Run
• August 31, 1861: Discussion of seeing a hippopotamus at Barnum's Museum

The Photographs series (25 items) contains undated family pictures, images of houses and landscapes, and commercial photographs of buildings in Europe.

Four additional photographs are located with the letter of September 23, 1871. These are portraits of Chinese Americans, one taken by Chinese photographer Lai Yong of San Francisco, and one of letter writer Gin Bon, secretary of the Chinese Young Men's Christian Society. Gin Bon's portrait contains watercolored highlights. The hymn book for the Roosevelt Hospital in the Printed Materials series contains family photographs, including a group picture in which many of the sitters are holding tennis rackets.

The Religious Writings series is composed of two subseries: Sermons and Ecclesiastical History Notes, and Hymns. Though largely undated and unattributed, these writings were all likely created by Reverend Thompson. The Sermons and Ecclesiastical History notes subseries (61 items) contains 58 sermon notes that Thompson wrote in the 1890s, much of which was written on Roosevelt Hospital stationery. Some of these are outlines while others are fully formed sermons. He also wrote notes on ecclesiastical history in two notebooks dated 1881 (232 pages), and on the Hebrew language in an undated notebook (58 pages). The Hymns subseries (42 items) contains 9 manuscript hymns, 16 printed hymns, and 17 volumes of manuscript hymns. They consist of transcribed and translated hymns, Bible quotations, and ballad lyrics. Two of the printed hymns, both Christmas carols, include music for four voices.

The Printed Material series (30 items) is comprised of 18 newspaper clippings and 12 miscellaneous printed items. The newspaper clippings are an essay by Reverend Thompson entitled "The Burial of Moses," and an address from Thompson delivered at the unveiling of a Gettysburg monument for the 17th Connecticut Volunteers. The Miscellaneous Printed Items subseries contains 12 items, including ephemera related to New York University commencements; an engraving of author, nurse, and charity organizer Isabella Graham; an annual report for the Brooklyn Nursery (1888); and a Roosevelt Hospital hymnal in which someone has inserted photograph clippings of Reverend Thompson, his wife, and others.

The Native American collection contains miscellaneous letters and documents concerning Native American Indians in the United States, Canada, and the West Indies, and their interactions with British and American settlers.

The Native American collection is comprised of approximately 125 miscellaneous letters and documents concerning Native American Indians in the United States, Canada, and the West Indies, and their interactions with British and American settlers (1689-1921). Topics range from land agreements, legal issues, treaties, descriptions of travel through Indian Territory, Indian uprisings and conflicts, Indian captivities, prisoners of war, Indian enslavement, and interactions with Quaker and Moravian missionaries. Tribes include the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cree, Iroquois, Ojibwa, Oneida, Ottawa, Kickapoo, Seneca, Shawnee, Sioux, among others, and concern activities in Canada, New England, the Midwest, the South, and the western frontier. Also present are items written in Cherokee, Mohawk, and Ojibwa.

The Riopelle family papers consist of documents and correspondence relating to various members of the Riopelle, Beaubien, and Gouin families in Montreal, Quebec, and Detroit, Michigan.

The 38 items in the Riopelle family papers span 1737-1894 and relate to several interconnected families of French-Canadian origin living in Montreal and Detroit. The collection contains 26 legal and military documents, 5 receipts, 3 letters, 2 newspaper clippings, and 2 small prints. Approximately one-third of the collection is in French.

The legal documents include a 1737 trading license for Jean Baptiste Cuillerier dit Beaubien allowing him to trade in the vicinity of Fort Detroit; it specifies his route, trading partners, and supplies. Most of the other legal documents are land deeds and title abstracts for land in southeast Michigan owned by various family members. President James Madison and Secretary of State James Monroe signed a land patent issued to "Ambroise Riopel" on April 20, 1811. A few items after Nicholas Gouin's death in 1813 relate to the bequest of his land near the Detroit River to his daughter Collette and son-in-law, Dominique Riopelle.

The collection's seven military documents include promotions, general orders, and commissions, issued between 1753 and 1805. One such item, signed by King Louis XV and dated August 16, 1766, commissions J.B.M. Quindre as sublieutenant of a Burgundy Regiment. Other military documents relate to the Beaubien brothers in Michigan. Also present is a copy of the terms of treaty between the United States and the Chippewa, signed at Michilimackinac (October 18, 1842).

The collection's three letters relate family matters, including the death of Dominique Riopelle's uncle (April 29, 1843) and news from a branch of the family in Chatham, Michigan (June 25, 1845). The undated items comprise a list tallying trading activities with Native Americans; two newspaper clippings (one concerning land near River Rouge and the other giving biographical information on William Gouin); and two small prints, one of Lewis Cass and one of Detroit in 1820.

The Rogers-Roche papers contain the outgoing letters of Robert Rogers and his stepson, John Roche. The Rogers material mainly concerns his military activities and money-making endeavors in North America and England, while the Roche letters relate to Roche's service on the U.S. Ship Constitution during the Quasi-war with France.

The Rogers-Roche collection contains 53 letters and documents, spanning 1758 to 1881, with the bulk concentrated around 1758 to 1801.

Approximately half the collection consists of letters written by Robert Rogers to his wife, Elizabeth ("Betsy"), between 1761 and 1775, while he was in New York, South Carolina, Michigan, Ontario, Quebec, and London. The most frequent topic of letters is Rogers' finances; he often informed his wife of various attempts to get money that he believed the British government owed him, whether for commanding at Lake George during the French and Indian War (June 2, 1758), or for his expenses related to service at Fort Michilimackinac (March 8, 1770). On April 7, 1774, he notified his wife of his plan to send a memorial to General Thomas Gage requesting reimbursement and included a copy of the document on the verso of the letter.

The collection also includes three letters written by Rogers to his wife during his imprisonment at Montreal on charges of colluding with the French. On August 25, 1768, he noted, "my confinement…is made as agreable for me as possible," but several months later, he angrily noted, "I hop to soon have it in my power to reveng on my Enemys" (December 24, 1768). His early letters to Betsy are very loving in tone; he referred to her as "dearest dear," and soon after their marriage, wrote that he wished "once more to feast my Eyes on hir who so suddenly made me a prisoner to love" (November 9, 1761). In the same letter, written from South Carolina, he noted that a peace had been made between the Cherokees and British forces. His fine description of the capture of Fort Presque Isle by Native Americans during Pontiac's War is dated July 15, 1763.

The remainder of the collection primarily relates to John ("Jack") Roche, Jr., who joined the Navy and served on the U.S.S. Constitution during the quasi-war with France. The letters mainly concern his naval career and wartime service between 1798 and 1801. On May 7, 1798, Edward Livermore wrote to Roche, informing him, "I have entered your name as a midshipman on board the frigate-- You must come immediately if you mean to secure the place" and notified him of the pay and terms. In a letter of June 19, 1798, Roche described conditions onboard the Constitution, including the excellent provisions, the crew, and the ship's ordnance. In other letters, he made note of his duties and the capture of prizes. On September 25, [1798], he described the capture of the 24-gun French ship Niger, carrying "large sums of money in bags & chests which have not been op'ned, probably the plunder of defenceless Americans."

Other topics include the death of several shipmates from yellow fever (September 29, [1798]), the difficulty of finding French privateers off of Prince Rupert's Bay, Dominica (March 16, [1799]), and the capture of a ship called the Indiaman (November 26, 1799). Roche also commented several times on conditions in Haiti, which had recently experienced a revolution. On Toussaint l'Ouverture, Commander-in-Chief of French Forces in Saint Domingue, he wrote, "we may shortly see the whole Island containing near a million of Inhabitants govern'd despotically by an ignorant negro, formerly a slave" (January 30, 1801). Several orders are also included among the papers, including one by the Constitution's commander, Silas Talbot, which required that "each Lieut, Master and Midshipman Keepe an exact Journal of the Ships way" (December 15, 1800). The collection closes with a few scattered letters relating to Arthur Rogers and conveying family and financial news.