In October 1719, the Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends for Philadelphia and the Jersies reached consensus on a "book of discipline" governing the "establishment and order of meetings." The regulations covered both the conduct of the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings and the personal comportment of individual members, refining the bureaucratic structure of the meetings and laying out the powers of Overseers and other officials. It touches upon marriage (mandating endogamy), burial, and attendance at meetings, and cautions Friends to plainness of speech and dress, drinking, smoking, backbiting, and gaming. This version of the Book of Discipline is a manuscript copy made for the American Philosophical Society in 1820 "from and antient Copy in the possession of Timothy Matlack, Esqr."

This collection of documents includes letters, broadsides, bills of sale, deeds of purchase, and wills, relating to various slaves. There are also documents from notable Americans concerning the slave question, such as John Brown, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and Andrew Jackson.

The Scaliger Family Papers, when taken together, trace the history of a noble family that was originally from Italy but lived primarily in Agen, France from the mid-1500s through the mid-1800s. Beginning with the patriarch, Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558), a celebrated Italian scholar and physician, the members of the Scaliger family upheld an illustrious reputation over the centuries as scholars, military leaders, and noblemen. Throughout their family's history, the Scaligers maintained that they were descended from the Della Scallas, Princes of Verona. It is as a result of the necessity to defend this claim as well as later attempts to prove their ties to their noble heritage that this collection of documents has remained so well intact. The Scaliger Family Papers is a collection that encompasses several different kinds of documents that span from 1539 to 1862 including letters, genealogical material, works by members of the Scaliger family, as well as military, legal, and financial documents.

Founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin, the American Philosophical Society was the first learned society in the United States. For over 250 years, the Society has played an important role in American cultural and intellectual life. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the Society fulfilled the role of a national academy of science, national library and museum, and even patent office. Early members of the Society included Thomas Jefferson, David Rittenhouse, Benjamin Rush, Stephen Peter Du Ponceau, George Washington, and many other figures prominent in American history. The Archives of the American Philosophical Society consists of 192.25 linear feet of material, organized into thirteen record groups dating back to 1743. The Society's archives extensively documents not only the organization's historical development but also its role in American history and the history of science and technology.

One of the oldest houses in Philadelphia, Wyck is now a non-profit museum listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nine generations of the Jansen-Wistar-Haines family owned the Wyck property from 1690 until 1973. The last family owner deeded 2.5 acres of land, the house and its contents, several outbuildings, a landscaped garden, and a small endowment to the Wyck Charitable Trust. The Wyck Charitable Trust and the Wyck Association now administer the preservation of the property and its educational services to the public. This collection contains diaries, letters, accounts, bills and receipts, deeds, and photographs. The collection as a whole is deepest for the period 1770-1970. Items of particular note include accounts of household expenses at Wyck from ca. 1790-1970; papers pertaining to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Quaker schools, and social reform groups; agricultural and horticultural practices; and correspondence to and from cultural leaders of 18th and 19th century Philadelphia. The papers of the John S. Haines family (Ms. Coll. 52A) form part of the Wyck Papers. The papers cover the years 1845 to 1949 and are arranged into eight series.