The collection consists of correspondence, biographical works about Ticknor, manuscripts and typescripts of some of his poems, a bound typescript of Ticknor letters from December 18, 1839 to January 17, 1870 collected by M. T. Furlow, 18 letters of the Cutliff family (1898-1953), a copy of The Poems of Francis Orray Ticknor edited by Michelle Cutliff Ticknor, and a typescript copy of Sarah Anne Cheney's 1934 Duke University MA thesis on Francis Orray Ticknor.