At the start of the 19th century, the tumultuous events of Europe and the new government of the United States prompted the government of France employing agents to report on American politics, economics, diplomacy, geographic expansion, and military affairs. This collection consists of thirty-eight confidential, anonymous reports from French agents in the United States over a period of forty years, from the period immediately following the Louisiana Purchase into the early 1840s.

Consists of selected manuscripts, correspondence, documents, portraits, and other items created by or about United States President James Madison (Class of 1771) and Dolley Madison, collected by Jasper E. Crane (Class of 1901).

Consists of a closed collection of documents related to slavery, the trade of enslaved persons, and the colonial plantation economy, particularly in the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Consists of Americana dating, primarily, from the period of the American Revolution and the thirty years immediately following, collected by Straus.

Consists of a group of around forty documents, primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, that were assembled by collector William H. Scheide on the topic of slavery in North America.