Consists of individual items acquired separately either as a gift or purchased from a variety of sources, relating to or by French literary figures. Additions continue to be made.
The Allen mss., 800-1972, consists of manuscript pieces collected by William Edward David Allen, 1901-1973, foreign service officer, businessman, and author, and his own writings about Georgian history.
The Ricketts mss., 9th-19th cent., are illuminated medieval and renaissance manuscripts assembled by Coella Lindsay Ricketts, 1859-1941, calligrapher, of Chicago, Illinois. Most of the material relates to religious matters.
The Lincoln mss., ca. 1798-1959, consist of letters, documents, and facsimile copies of documents by and about Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865, his ancestors, immediate family, members of his cabinet, and other persons closely connected with him.
The Gilder mss., 1781-1984 consists of correspondence and papers of poet, editor Richard Watson Gilder and his wife, the artist Helena de Kay Gilder, and their family.
The Williams, Jonathan mss., 1738-1869, consist of letters and papers of Jonathan Williams, 1750-1815, merchant and soldier, grand-nephew of Benjamin Franklin and first superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.