James M. Crawford was a linguist who mainly studied Native American languages, including Cocopa, Yuchi, and Mobilian trade language. He came to the field of linguistics halfway through his lifetime after pursuing a career in forestry in the West and Southwest. After receiving his PhD in 1966 from the University of California at Berkeley, he returned to his birthplace, Georgia, where he taught in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Georgia at Athens. The collection is organized into seven series: I. Correspondence, 1964-1986; II. Subject Files, 1949-1987; III. Works by Crawford, 1962-1986; IV. Research NOtes & Notebooks, 1906-1988; V. Card Files, 1960s-1980s; VI. Course Material, 1961-1986; VII. Photographs, 1963-1978.

Frank Siebert (1913-1998) is one of the key contributors to the field of Algonquian linguistics. While he did not pursue a degree in linguistics or anthropology, he independently acquired the skills and knowledge of a professional scholar. His work on Penobscot is some of the best and most comprehensive in existence. The Siebert Papers document the interest and work of Frank Siebert in the linguistics of the Algonquian family of languages, particularly Penobscot. The collection includes correspondence, research notes, drafts and published manuscripts by Siebert, as well as secondary sources consulted by Siebert. To a lesser extent, it contains material that documents Siebert's personal life, his interest in book collecting and his career as a physician.