Early papers of William C. Russel and letters of his mother Lucy Channing Russel; other family letters; three letters written by William C. Russel, two to Augustus J. Rogers concerning coeducation and the Physics Department at Cornell University, and one letter to George Bowen; letters of support for Russel during the crisis at Cornell, 1881, including two letters of Andrew Dickson White; financial records; legal papers; and two photographs.