An Irish-born non-commissioned officer in the 49th Regiment of Foot, Thomas Sullivan served with the British Army in North America from the siege of Boston in 1775 through the last days of the Philadelphia Campaign in 1778. He deserted in June, 1778, and became steward to Continental Army Quartermaster General Nathanael Greene.

An important 18th century radical republican theorist and political writer, Thomas Paine was a leading figure in the American Revolution. Despite his humble beginnings and lack of formal education, his reasoned and persuasive writings not only influenced nascent American republican ideology, but profoundly affected the perception of government in England and France as well. His three most influential works are Common Sense (1776), The Rights of Man (1791-1792), and The Age of Reason (1794, 1795, 1807). The Richard Gimbel Collection is a heterogeneous mix of items connected only by the fact that they were all collected by Gimbel (1898-1970) and that most were written by, to, or about the revolutionary Paine. Of primary importance are the approximately sixty-five letters or manuscripts in Paine's own hand, including Paine's 1776 manuscript notes for Common Sense, his letter of January 10, 1781, in which he takes leave of his former commanding officer, Nathanael Greene, and his January 6, 1789 letter to Kitty Nicholson Few, in which he writes of his view of matrimony and other personal matters. The collection includes a series of correspondence between Thomas Paine and Samuel Adams, which were originally marked "forgeries," these appear instead simply to be the letters of two men bearing famous names.

The collection includes letters between Hutchinson and his uncle Israel Pemberton, written while Hutchinson was a student of medicine in London. There are also 12 tickets of admission to medical lectures in Philadelphia and London, including one given by William Hunter, and 3 unused cards of admission to Hutchinson's own lectures. Miscellaneous items include Hutchinson's marriage certificate; genealogical data on the Hutchinson, Hare, and Pemberton families; and stock certificates, 1857-1872, of the McKean and Elk Land and Improvement Company. Materials dated post-1793 are to and from Hutchinson family members.

The papers include miscellaneous letters, letterbooks, books, certificates, and diplomas of various members of the Muhlenberg family. Among them are photostats of letters and papers of General John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg and officers of the Continental Army on military affairs in the Southern Department during the American Revolution (1772-1804); photostats of letters to Albert Gallatin, Nathanael Greene, Edward Hand, Winthrop Sargent, Baron von Steuben, William Alexander, and George Washington; photostat of General Muhlenberg's journal of trips to the Ohio (1784, 1797); photostats of letters and notes of Gotthilf H. E. Muhlenberg, including a diary kept at Halle (1771) and extracts of thirty letters to Stephen Elliott of Beaufort and Charleston, South Carolina (1808-1815); photostats of letters of Henry A. Muhlenberg about his biography of General Muhlenberg (1848-1849); and photostats of letters of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711-1787). Also included is an original letterbook of Peter Muhlenberg, paymaster of the United States Army, kept at Augusta and Savannah, Georgia (1836-1842). Henry Muhlenberg's notebooks (1784-1813), written in Latin or German script, in a small hand, includes a wealth of botanical observations, with a focus on Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Henry Muhlenberg journals are a record of daily occurrences, with many features of a commonplace book, containing prescriptions, notes of questions asked candidates for the Lutheran ministry, and the plan of a barn. There is also a biographical account of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (1711-1787).

Nathanael Greene was one of the leading commanders in the Continental Army, and the only officer George Washington saw as capable of leading in his absence. Greene served as a field commander, member of Washington's staff, Quartermaster General, and commander of the Army in the Southern Theater. Greene was born on July 27, 1742 in Potowomut, Rhode Island to a Quaker family, who believed that their children would learn more from manual labor then from attending school. Lacking a formal education Greene was very intelligent and taught himself to read, developing early on a love of books - particularly military history and theory. It was through reading, not experience, where Greene learned his knowledge of military science. Between 1778 and 1780 he reluctantly served as Quartermaster General, and was able to drastically improve supplying the Continental Army. Greene ended his military career leading the American Southern army to victory over the British. Greene died in Georgia in June 1786. The Papers of Nathanael Greene come from Greene's tenure as Quartermaster General of the Continental Army between 1778 and 1780. The collection primarily consists of Greene's correspondence with officers in the quartermaster department, officers in the Army (including George Washington), and members of the Continental Congress; relating to the operation of the Quartermaster Department with requests for supplies, forage, and money. In addition, there is also correspondence between officers of the Quartermaster Department. The content of the letters provide a detailed account of the logistical obstacles that Greene and his subordinates faced in trying to keep not only the Quartermaster Department but the Continental Army running. The papers do not contain any material relating to Greene's military service or private life either before or after his tenure as quartermaster general.