The Pliny mss. contains photostats of manuscripts by magistrate and author Pliny the Younger (61 AD -ca.112AD), assembled by Professor of Latin Selatie Edgar Stout (1871-1969). Born in Northern Italy, Pliny the younger was educated under Lucius Verginius Rufus. After this tutoring at home, Pliny then transferred to Rome where he was taught by rhetorician Quintilian and Nicetes. During this period, Pliny also became quite close with his uncle Pliny the Elder, until the latter died during the Mount Vesuvius eruption. Throughout his adult career, Pliny the younger was known as a member of the aristocratic order, an active figure in the Roman legal system, and took on a variety of social roles including senator, praetor, prefect, consul, and imperial governor. He was also a writer of a tragedy as a young man and several epistles, the most famous of which details the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

Selatie Edgar Stout, the collector of the collection's manuscripts, graduated from Grand River College in 1891 and William Jewel College in 1901. For a time, he worked as a teacher, until he later became principal and superintendent. Between 1902 and 1906, Stout went on to pursue graduate work in Latin at Chicago and then Princeton University, from which he received his Ph.D. in 1910. In 1914, Stout became Professor of Latin and later head of the department at Indiana University. And in 1920, Stout garnered the title of Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, from which he retired in 1942.