The collection consists of materials Dorothy Manning Payne collected about Benjamin Fish and other historical topics. The collection is organized into materials related to Benjamin Fish and general historical materials. The Benjamin Fish materials contain personal as well as professional correspondence, contracts and deeds, and receipts. The historical materials include receipts for goods shipped by boat, an Ann Arbor Mineral Springs ticket, a printed booklet titled "A Brief Narrative of the Life of Miss Adele M. George (Being Deaf and Dumb)", a flyer for a Fourth of July Celebration in South Dakota, political circulars, a printed suffragist speech by George Curtis, and an unattributed handwritten abolition essay.