A mineralogist and chemist associated with the University of Pennsylvania (1822-1828), William H. Keating was a central figure in the scientific community in Philadelphia during the 1820s and 1830s. Active in the American Philosophical Society and Academy of Natural Sciences, and a founding member of the Franklin Institute, Keating was official geologist on Stephen Harriman Long's expedition to the Great Lakes in 1823 and spent three years in the late 1820s surveying the mineral resources of Mexico. The William H. Keating notebooks include three cash books (daybooks of cash expenditures, 1830-1839) and a book containing surveys of Keating lands in Potter County, most undertaken by Silas McCarty for William's father John Keating (1801-1818). The surveys associated with John Keating are an interesting record of land investment and speculation in the northern tier of Pennsylvania. William Keating's meticulous cash books provide a detailed record of his domestic expenses, philanthropic involvements (donations to the Catholic Church, the Prison Society), his reading (newspapers and books are listed individually), socializing (theatre tickets, Assembly fees), and a variety of miscellaneous expenditures ranging from purchase of a lithograph of Dugald Stewart to a table lamp from C. Cornelius. His accounts also include lists of servant's wages and wages for washerwomen.

Associates of Benjamin Franklin and his grandson William Temple Franklin, the Fox family of Philadelphia were holders of considerable property in Philadelphia during the eighteenth century and speculated extensively in lands in the northern and western parts of the state. The son of Dr. George Fox, Charles Pemberton Fox inherited the estate Champlost at which the papers of Benjamin Franklin were left in 1790. He donated the collection to the American Philosophical Society in 1840. The legal records that comprise the William Temple Frankln-Charles Pemberton Fox collection relate to real property held by members of the Fox family and to the land holdings and financial interests of George Fox's close friend, William Temple Franklin. The collection includes about 100 deeds for properties in or near Philadelphia and in Luzerne County, Pa., along with a small quantity (about 31 items) of miscellaneous correspondence addressed to George Fox by Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, N. Cantwell Jones, Thomas Eddy, and others; and from William Constable and Sir Robert Herries and Co. (17 pieces) relating to the investments of William Temple Franklin.

An extensive family collection, the Vaux Family Papers center around the lives of George Vaux V (1721-1803), George Vaux VII (1779-1836), and George Vaux VIII (1832-1915), their business partners, siblings, wives, and children, and encompasses the extended Vaux family of Warders, Sansoms, Heads, Graffs, Morrises, Cressons, and Mayberrys. The collection includes correspondence, financial accounts, receipts, business records, journals, diaries, photographs, and legal documents.

The Smith-Houston-Morris-Ogden Family Papers document the history of the Houston, Smith, Ogden, Morris and allied families, beginning in the late 17th century, and continuing through to near the end of the 20th. Among the many treasures in this vast collection are the papers of Pennsylvania Railroad executive Henry Howard Houston (1820-1895), his son, Samuel Frederick Houston (1866-1952), and of Pennsylvania attorney and treasury official, William Meredith (1752-1816). Although the collection contains a great deal of interest with respect to land speculation, commerce, and trade emanating from Philadelphia, the bulk of the Smith Family Papers consists of personal and family correspondence and other papers. Among the largest and most interesting bodies of papers are those of L.M.C. Smith and Eleanor Houston Smith, daughter of Samuel F. Smith. These document the family's progressive attitudes regarding and resource conservation, historic preservation, and their social activism. This very large collection includes much material that is not itemized below.

James Burd (1726-1793) was well-known in colonial Pennsylvania through his role in the French and Indian War, as well as his connections to many of the colony's leading families (most notably the Shippen family). Initially starting out as a merchant in Philadelphia, Burd became increasingly involved with colonial affairs after moving to Lancaster County with his family in 1752. It would be on the frontier where Burd would make his mark first as a soldier, and later as a magistrate. The Burd-Shippen Papers consist mainly of letters and business documents sent to James Burd, with the bulk of the collection relating to the French and Indian War, 1754-1763, in which Burd served as an officer commanding troops at Fort Augusta and elsewhere. The collection reflects all aspects of Burd's life in Pennsylvania as a merchant, soldier, and magistrate; as well as his involvement with the Shippen family professionally and personally. Intermixed with items sent to Burd are receipts to his wife Sarah Shippen Burd, and correspondence between Edward Shippen and James Hamilton regarding land matters and Indian affairs in Lancaster.

These letters and papers include ten small volumes of letterbooks (1752-1781), and ca. 100 pieces of correspondence with Joseph Shippen (1750-1778). Topics discussed are business in Philadelphia and Lancaster, provincial politics, army supply in the French and Indian War, land purchases and speculation, housebuilding, and family affairs.

A collection of business and personal papers of three generations of the prominent Philadelphia Jewish family from 1750-1974. Business records include trade and land transactions (some in Yiddish) of the Gratz brothers, Barnard and Michael (1750-1804) with the business continued by Michael's sons: Simon, Hyman, Joseph, Jacob, and Benjamin (1791-1861). Personal correspondence are primarily letters to Rebecca Gratz from her sisters Rachel and Sarah (1795-1867) with later correspondence to Rachel's children: Horace and Sara Moses (1832-1879). Contains a small group of French letters related to Napoleon III, collected by family member Miriam Fox, and some heirloom artifacts.