Correspondence, legal documents, genealogy, memorabilia, poetry, and literary manuscripts of Warren Angus Ferris (1810-1873); his mother, Sarah Gray Ferris Lovejoy (1785-1964); stepfather, Joshua Lovejoy (1771-1824); brother-in-law, American painter Lars Gustaf Sellstedt; and other family members. Includes also papers and correspondence regarding W.A. Ferris and his work by Walter McCausland and Fred Rosenstock.

Collection includes photographs, some hand-colored, and some corresponding negatives with images of the Ferris family. The Ferris family were a frontier family in the West. Warren A. Ferris was a fur trapper in the Rocky Mountains in the mid-19th century, and his son, Charles, was a Texas Ranger. Photographs were originally taken between the 1860s and the 1970s.