These papers consist of an assortment of correspondence, journals, printed matter, and memorabilia relating to Henry Ward Camp and his family, dating largely from the Civil War era.
Pre-dating the Civil War is Camp's Yale autograph album for the Class of 1860. This contains autographs, photographs, and engravings of Yale faculty and students, including Theodore Woolsey, Noah Porter, and William Dwight Whitney. There are also several photographs of Camp, and a leather wallet belonging to him.
Of the Civil War papers, the correspondence consists of fifty-five letters written by Henry Clay Trumbull (1830-1903) to the Camp family and one to his wife, all describing Camp's career with the Union Army, including his escape from a Confederate prison camp (1864 Jan 12; folder 1) and his death during fighting near Richmond (1864 Oct 13, 15). Trumbull also discusses his own experiences in the army, his sense of bereavement at Camp's death, and the biography that he wrote about Camp. Other items relating to Camp's Civil War service include military papers such as Camp's parole of honor that he would not try to escape from prison camp, letters from Camp to army officials requesting leaves of absence and so forth, his appointment as major, and other documents; a subscription book for a monument to him; and Connecticut newspapers giving accounts of his death. Materials pertaining to Henry Clay Trumbull include a draft editorial about him sent by Camp to the Hartford Courant, an advertisement for his biography, and a photograph.
The remaining items in the collection are a diary of Lizzie B. Camp, containing primarily financial records for 1887-1900, and a journal and a few miscellaneous papers of C. H. Camp.