Letters describe the Winfield Scott Schley controversy, 1901; Judge Alton B. Parker, a Democratic candidate; the town of Esopus, New York; William Jennings Bryan's tour, 1908; the Democratic State Convention in Rochester, New York; the fire and subsequent deaths of factory workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York, 1911; the Chicago Republican Convention and the Baltimore Democratic Convention (including impressions of Baltimore), 1912.

Personal and professional papers of Francis W. Halsey (Cornell University Class of 1873), a newspaper editor and writer, and of his brother, Frederick A. Halsey (Cornell University M.E. 1878), an engineer and author of a number of articles and books about engineering. Also, letters to Frederick Halsey's daughters Olga and Marion from Fred H. Colvin.