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Dorothy Burr Thompson (1900-2001) was a graduate of Bryn Mawr College class of 1923 and the first student to earn a degree in classical archaeology and Greek. She studied under Rhys Carpenter, who sparked her interest in Hellenistic sculpture. She earned the prestigious European Fellowship, which helped fund her graduate studies at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens (ASCSA). This collection contains seven of Thompson’s diaries, 1919-1925, during Thompson’s time at Bryn Mawr and the ASCSA.

The lantern slides in this collection were gathered by E. Raymond Wilson while he was in Japan from Sept. 1926 to Sept. 1927, having been awarded the Japanese Brotherhood Scholarship for study and the building of friendships. Wilson's fascination with the people and places of Japan led to detailed letters home to America, in which he included observations about his trips around the country and to Formosa. The 257 lantern slides that he brought back with him reflect his interests, having to do with beautiful sites and scenery, daily life, agricultural practices, schools and universities, and the tribes of Formosa. Most of the slides were created by professional photographers (including T. Takagi and Futaba) and were hand-tinted by artists; a few of the slides were made from photographs taken by Wilson himself.

This collection includes letters written to Elijah Pennypacker concerning the anti-slavery movement. It includes correspondence from Abby Kelly and H.B. Stanton relating to the American Anti-Slavery Society, from Thomas Garrett concerning arrangements for transportation and placement of emancipated and self-emancipated people, and from William Still about a visit and lecture by William Wells Brown.

This collection consists of the letters of Katherine Wistar Mason Elkinton (1892-1961) and her husband Howard West Elkinton (1892-1955) as they engaged in relief work in Europe during and after World War I. During the war, the Elkintons worked for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) in France as relief workers (1917-1919). Katherine taught and worked in the maternity ward of a hospital in Chalons while Howard was posted in Sermaize. Upon their return to the United States, the couple helped to found Chestnut Hill Monthly Meeting. In 1923, Katharine Elkinton established, along with business partner Sydney Cole, the Germantown Book Store in the front room of their home. In 1938, Katharine and Howard went to Germany; while Howard was director of the AFSC Berlin office, Katharine helped over 1,000 professional Jewish women emigrate to Australia.

The Female Association of Philadelphia for the Relief of the Sick and Infirm Poor with Clothing was a Quaker charity founded in 1828 to distribute clothing and provide other assistance to the sick and poor of Philadelphia. It went out of existence in 1975. This collection contains the records of the Female Association of Philadelphia for the Relief of the Sick and Infirm Poor with Clothing, including correspondence, minutes, reports, membership lists, financial and legal documents.