The papers of Addin Lewis (1780-1842) make up the bulk of this collection. Outgoing correspondence (1811-1832) is found in a letter book dealing with Lewis' official business as collector of the port of Mobile, Alabama. Among the routine letters are several on the smuggling of slaves in contravention of the Non-Importation Act of 1808. There are also incoming business and family letters (1831-1842). Notable correspondents include David Daggett and Jeremiah Day. The rest of the Addin Lewis material consists of miscellaneous papers and maps relating to land sales in Mobile and of papers from Lewis' estate, both correspondence of executors William R. Hitchcock, Isaac H. Townsend, and Henry Ward, and a variety of wills and other legal documents, inventories, and administrative accounts.
Other Lewis family material in the papers includes an autograph album of Hannah Maria (Lewis) Bishop (1805-72), cousin and sister-in-law of Addin Lewis, and of her mother, Rhoda (Cole) Lewis (1766-1854), and an account book from the estates of Isaac Chauncey Lewis (1812-1893) and Harriet (Pomeroy) Lewis (d. 1899) of Meriden, Connecticut.