The collection is made up partly of letters to other persons, which she appears to have collected mainly because of a common interest in reform and philanthropy.

Among the correspondents are Mrs. Isabella (Macdonald) Alden; Queen Alexandra, consort of Edward VII; Henry Hugh Arthur Fitzroy Somerset, 10th duke of Beaufort; Samuel Bowly; Thomas Allnutt Brassey; Mrs. Elizabeth (Priestman) Bright; John Bright; Cecilia Lucy Brightwell; Henry Peter Brougham; Sir William Brown; James Silk Buckingham; Henry Burgess; Thomas Burt; Mary Carpenter; Joseph Chamberlain; Sir Francis Legatt Chantrey; Mrs. Catherine (Buck) Clarkson; Thomas Clarkson; Richard Cobden; John Mason Cook; Sir William Cook; Ed. Crossley; Allan Cunningham; Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th duke of Devonshire; Frederick Douglass; Sir John Eardley Eardley-Wilmot; Henry Howard, 2nd earl of Effingham; Ebenezer Elliott; Mrs. Sarah (Stickney) Ellis; William Ellis; Henry Fawcett; Salvatore Ferretti; Edmund Gardiner Fishbourne; Charles William Wentworth Fitzwilliam 3rd earl Fitzwilliam; William Wentworth Fitzwilliam, 2nd earl Fitzwilliam; Giuseppe Garibaldi; William Lloyd Garrison; Mrs. Margaret (Scott) Gatty; Alexxandro Gavazzi; Mrs. Ann (Taylor) Gilbert; Herbert John Gladstone, viscount Gladstone; Sir Dan Godfrey; Elizabeth (Brodie) Gordon, duchess of Gordon; John Bartholomew Gough; Matthew Habershon; George Hadfield; John Vine Hall; Mrs. Maria (Leycester) Hare; Benjamin Robert Haydon; Farrer Herschell, 1st baron Herschell; William Hone; Edward George Fitzalan Howard, 1st baron Howard of Glossop; Joseph Hunter; John Jackson; Courtney Stanhope Kenny; Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird, 11th baron Kinnaird; Mary Jane (Hoare) Kinnaird, Lady Kinnaird; John Macgregor; Alexander Maconochie-Welwood, Lord Meadowbank; Dwight Lyman Moody; Samuel Morley; John Morley, viscount Morley of Blackburn; Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd earl of Mount-Edgcumbe; Anthony John Mundella; John Henry Newman; Sir Joseph Paxton; Carlo Poerio; Mrs. Therese Pulszky; Thomas Raffles; Sir William Reid; Sir John Charles Reith; Henry Richard; Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson; Samuel Roberts; Frances Rolleston; John Charles Ryle; Jonathan Scott; Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th earl of Shaftesbury; Emily Caroline Catherine Frances (Cowper) Cooper, countess of Shaftesbury; Hugh Richard Sheppard, Walter S. Shirley; Benjamin Edward Spence; J.C. Stevenson; Agnes Strickland; Charles Beilby Stuart-Wortley, 1st baron Stuart of Wortley; Joseph Sturge; Sophia Sturge; Isaac Taylor; Jane Taylor; James Townley; Sir George Otto Trevelyan; John Wanamaker; Charles Warren; Caroline Mary Elizabeth (Creighton) Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, countess of Wharncliffe; James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st baron Wharncliffe; Albert Basil Orme Wilberforce; Sir William Wilberforce; Thomas Wilson; and Mrs. Mary Winslow.

In addition to letters the collection contains photographs of prominent individuals, some of which are autographed. Included are Edward Baines; Samuel Bowly; John Bright; Mary Carpenter; Joseph Chamberlain; Richard Cobden; Christopher J. Davies; Edward George Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th earl of Derby; Henry Howard, 2nd earl of Effingham; Ebenezer Elliott; Mrs. Sarah (Stickney) Ellis; Salvatore Ferretti; Mrs. Elizabeth (Gurney) Fry; Giuseppe Garibaldi; Menotti Garibaldi; William Lloyd Garrison; Mrs. Margaret (Scott) Gatty; Alessandro Gavazzi; Mrs. Ann (Taylor) Gilbert; Joseph Henry Gilbert; Elizabeth (Brodie) Gordon, duchess of Gordon; Arthur Fitzgerald Kinnaird, 10th baron Kinnaird; John Macgregor; Samuel Morley; Florence Nightingale; Mrs. Amelia (Alderson) Opie; Carlo Poerio; John Arthur Roebuck; Antony Ashley Cooper, 7th earl of Shaftesbury; Emily Caroline Catherine Frances (Cowper) Cooper, countess of Shaftesbury; Agnes Strickland; Joseph Sturge; Edward Montagu Granville Stuart-Wortley, earl of Wharncliffe; and Mrs. Mary Winslow.

The collection also contains a book of water color sketches of Italian scenes by Mrs. Rawson; and a scrapbook of Italy containing pictures of individuals, scenes and works of art, maps, sheet music, printed material about Italy, etc.