The collection consists of the papers of Pinkney and, to a lesser degree, of William Pinkney Whyte (1824-1908), his grandson. Included are several works by Pinkney, his diplomatic correspondence while he was U.S. minister to Great Britain (1807-1811) and to Russia (1816-1818), legal notes, deeds, bookplates, and assorted memorabilia. Pinkney's correspondents include John Quincy Adams, Baron Auckland, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and Jonathan Russell. For Whyte, there is correspondence from such notable figures as James G. Blaine, Reverdy Johnson, and Thomas Swann, as well as several documents. In addition, there is correspondence of several other persons, such as James Buchanan, Cardinal Gibbons, Francois de Kossuth, and various Pinkney family members.

Included in the collection are the notebook of Joseph White, a Pinkney relative, that contains "Historical Notices of the Inauguration of the Presidents" from Washington to Lincoln, and a volume of Pinkney's legal jottings that includes a letter (80 pp.) "To the Editor of the Anti-Jacobin Review" and a 162-page brief of an "Issue in Tail."