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The Barney Baker collection consists primarily of Barney Baker's correspondence from his military postings to his wife, Blanche Baker, in New York City. There are 222 letters in the collection, 32 sent from Camp Upton, 13 from Fort Niagara, and 177 from Panama, all addressed to his wife Blanche. Baker's letters are primarily concerned with news of his wife and child, their family and friends, and express love and longing. The correspondence also contains information regarding Baker's military life and time in Panama.

This collection is comprised of more than 700 letters written by Herman Recht (1908-1971), a Navy yeoman, from Camp Peary (U.S. Naval Construction Training Center), near Williamsburg, Virginia, between October 1943 and February 1946, to his wife, Esther, in Clairton, Pennsylvania. There are no letters from Esther because, as he wrote her, saving them would make him homesick.

The collection, 1833-1897, mostly consists of letters written to and by James Duncan Graham. Many are to and from his children (William Montrose Graham, Salvadora Graham, James Duncan Graham, Margaret C. Graham and Richard Worsham Meade Graham) and concern their education, health and his concern that they accommodate themselves to the social customs of the time. Two of his sons attended the United States Naval Academy (one also attended Racine College). The other attended the United States Military Academy. Letters also concern Graham's engineering projects, his connection with scientific societies and donations to libraries, the Mexican War, the decision of the family to remain loyal to the Union and the cultural interests of the family (opera and music in particular) and the family portraits done by G.P.A. Healy.

Approximately eighty letters, written from 1944 to 1945, received by George S. Hochberg, of East Orange, New Jersey, primarily during his officer training in the Marine Corps at Parris Island, South Carolina and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Before joining the Marine Corps, Hochberg was a student at Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. This collection includes letters from George Hochberg's parents, Rose and Benjamin Hochberg, in New Jersey and brother Jerry in the Pacific, as well as letters from other servicemen and friends. While Hochberg's letters are not included, the replies he received hint at his persistent physical, mental, and emotional struggles in training. Encouragement to build up his mental health is a prevalent theme. His mother's letters highlight how women's lives changed during World War II, particularly her explicit transformation from "someone's mother" to her own person who becomes a volunteer hospital nurse. It is suspected that the Hochberg family was Jewish, as mention is made of contact with a rabbi and the collection includes a pamphlet describing Jewish activities at Camp Lejeune. Also includes photographs and football game tickets.