The Samuel Johnson Hitchcock Papers, 1762-(1806-45)-1860, contain correspondence, legal and financial papers, and personal memorabilia from Hitchcock's undergraduate years at Yale College, his teaching at Fairfield Academy, his law practice with Seth Staples, and his career as a legal educator, judge, and mayor of New Haven. The papers contain information on the development of the Yale Law School, particularly its library and students.
The bulk of the papers is correspondence, arranged chronologically, concerning legal cases, many relating to the collection of debts and the settlement of estates, and student affairs. Folders 17 and 18 contain legal instruments such as summonses, writs, deeds, indentures, and briefs which bear on Hitchcock's case load. Personal memorabilia includes diaries of Hitchcock's travels in New England and New York and orations given by him at Yale.
The Hitchcock Papers were transferred to Manuscripts and Archives, between 1979 and 1983, from the Beinecke Library and from the Law School Library. Many of the papers were purchased by the library between 1948 and 1954. Much additional Hitchcock material, including ledgers, journals, letterbooks, accounts of private expenses, and papers concerning the Farmington Canal Company and the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, are in the Beinecke Library.