The Minard-Dickinson family papers cover the years 1850 to 1964, with emphasis on the first quarter of the twentieth century. The major portion of the collection is the correspondence of Charles Monroe Dickinson and his second wife, Alice Bond Minard Dickinson, but also includes poems, other correspondence, financial records, photographs, and geneaology.

The general correspondence makes up most of the important part of the collection, beginning soon after Mr. Dickinson's diplomatic career ends. There is a wide range of political correspondence from 1912 to 1914. It is also during this period that Mr. Dickinson exchanged frequent letters with John L. Stoddard, famous author and traveler. These letters may be important indicators of the turmoil in Europe just before World War I. The correspondence between Hugh and Mary Poynter and Dickinson (addressed to him as, “Dearest Good Man”), from 1917 to 1922 gives insights to British and American opinion during and after World War I.

Mr. Dickinson's diplomatic career is covered more completely by the collection in the Library of Congress, but his 1922 letters to Henry Morgenthau, Oscar S. Heizer, Wilbur Carr, and Douglas Robinson offer further insights to the abduction-ransoming incident involving Miss Ellen M. Stone in 1901.

The incident concerning Daniel Stevens Dickinson (1800 - 1866), who was a New York State delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1852 is explained in detail in Charles Monroe Dickinson's letters to Ray Franklin Nichols of September 7 and November 6, 1922. They offer substantiation to the theory that by refusing to allow his name to be placed in nomination for the presidency by the Virginia and North Carolina delegations, Daniel S. Dickinson in effect denied his own chances and threw the convention to Franklin Pierce who was later elected president. This incident is referred to in other 1922 correspondence.

Charles and Alice Dickinson's home in Binghamton, New York, on South Mountain is documented through photographs and financial records.

The material continues after the death of Mr. Dickinson in 1924, in the form of the correspondence of his second wife and her subsequent career as a prominent community and state club leader. Still another group of papers covers the financial affairs of several members of the family.

There is a small amount of material related to other family members, including Alice Bond Minard Dickinson's parents, Mary and Elias Minard. These papers include financial records, photographs, correspondence, and Mary's interior design planning.