Scope and arrangement
The most extensive part of the Williams Papers is the correspondence. There are 17 volumes of letters (indexed) written while Williams was secretary to Governors Hill and Flower. An additional 8 volumes of copy books (some with indices) and one box contain letters concerning all aspects of Williams' life-personal, political, and business. Additional political and government materials include drafts of Democratic Party platforms, 1891-1894; speeches; legislative bills and research; a few items concerning N. Y. State executive departments, 1889-1893; and correspondence, speeches, and biographical papers of Hill, Flower, and Marble. The business records are found among the letters, in two folders concerning ownership and control of newspapers (1895), and in two folders of transit materials most of which relate to the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, 1883-1899. The personal papers include school records, Cornell alumni items, clippings, ephemera, scrapbooks, and Williams' notes on Cotton Mather, New England witchcraft, Tangier Smith, and Long Island. There are memorials and letters of condolence received by Mrs. Williams upon her husband's death.