This series consists of personal items and portrait photographs of General John B. Woodward (1835-1896) and his wife, Elizabeth (1849-1923), who was also his first cousin; the couple was married in 1870. Also included are photographs of and personal items belonging to Elizabeth's mother, Sophia Ward Blackburne (later Littlejohn, 1812-1893), along with photographs of Elizabeth's grandmother, Susannah Ward (1784-1869). Items belonging to John Woodward include a copy of Opening Ceremonies of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, May 24th, 1883 (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Press of the Brooklyn Eagle Job Printing Department; 1883), which is a program of the events and the text of speeches; a $5 currency note with his signature; and a detailed scrapbook of invoices, receipts, ticket stubs, and calling cards from a trip to Europe (principally London and Paris) of July-September 1889, including items from a visit to the Paris Exhibition.

Items belonging to Elizabeth Woodward include a childhood travel diary (as E. C. Blackburne) from 1861; a scrapbook of greeting cards, circa 1879-1882; and childhood letters she wrote to her mother, Sophia Littlejohn, circa 1865, as well as daguerreotypes and photographs of Sophia Littlejohn. A letter of May 1918 acknowledges receipt and acceptance of a telescope or pair of binoculars contributed to the "Eyes for the Navy" program signed by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt, together with a memorandum regarding the program and a certificate of appreciation also signed by Roosevelt (probably autosigned).

Items belonging to Sophia Littlejohn include a dictionary, hymnal, book of psalms, and two silk carriage parasols.

This series consists of personal items belonging to Mary Blackburne Woodward (also called May; 1871-1943), including scrapbooks, travel diaries, photographs, correspondence, and other materials. Some items related to her younger siblings Elsie (1877-1893) and Arthur (1881-1890), neither of whom survived to adulthood, are also included. One of Mary's scrapbooks dates to 1879-1882 and is filled with holiday and birthday greeting cards and several pencil drawings. Photographs include portraits of Mary and her brother Robins.

Items from Mary's school days at the Packer Collegiate Institute, from which she graduated in 1890, include three hymnals, programs from the 1890 Commencement and Class Day, and copies of the annual class journal, the Packer '90, from 1889 and 1890.

Travel diaries describe two trips to Europe, one in the summer of 1889 (two diaries) and one in March-July 1900 (four diaries). A five-year daily diary dated January 1, 1918, mostly includes entries for the period 1918-1920 and records many birthdays and deaths.

Miscellaneous items include two pairs of eyeglasses and a metal stationer's die with the initials MBW from Brentano's Book Store, 586 Fifth Avenue, New York.

This series consists of personal materials--school items, correspondence, calling cards, photographs, and reminiscences--belonging to Ruth Blackburne Hart Ottaway (1910-2011) as well as items belonging to her sister, Mary Woodward Hart (later Mrs. A. Dexter Best; 1907-1992?), and her mother, Elizabeth B. Condit Hart (1868-1915). The bulk of the material relates to Ruth's school years at Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, and Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida, including a loose-leaf notebook; report cards; programs from the 1930 Packer Institute Class Day and Commencement; an oversize photograph of the Class of 1930; a copy of the 1933 "Tomokan" Yearbook from Rollins College (with photographs and listings for both Ruth Hart and her future husband James H. Ottaway); and address lists and correspondence related to the Packer Class of 1931's 30th reunion.

Highlights of the correspondence includes the invitation from the 1905 wedding of Elizabeth Condit and William Edgar Hart, with a letter from Elizabeth to her aunt, Elizabeth Woodward; a letter from James Ottaway to Ruth dated April 11, 1937; a letter from Mary Woodward to Ruth Ottaway dated April 29, 1942, describing the lace on Ruth's wedding dress; and a letter from Ruth's aunt, Sophia Haynes from 1950 announcing the sale of her home at 54 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, enclosing some photographs and mementos.

Miscellaneous items include a copy of Ruth's birth certificate; a typewritten inventory of Ruth Hart's silver as of November 10, 1933; and a typescript of stories about her childhood Ruth told to her son and daughter James H. Ottaway, Jr., and Ruth Ottaway Sherer in 1998, with a cover letter from James Ottaway to family members dated October 19, 2011, after Ruth's death.

This series includes indentures, naturalization papers, wills, and inventories related to members of the Blackburne, Woodward, Condit, Littlejohn, and Prosser families as well as genealogical materials in the form of published material, handwritten notes and family trees, and correspondence between family members. Also included are calling cards of family members and others not described in Series 1-3.

Highlights include indentures, inventories, and a business diary of rental incomes related to the family's properties on Sands Street circa 1807-1857; naturalization papers of John Blackburne (1828), Robins Blackburne (1841), and Sophia Littlejohn (1859); wills of John Blackburne (1821), Harry Condit (1873), Sophia Littlejohn (1883), and Elizabeth Hart (1915); and papers and diaries of Harry Condit, related to his Chinese tea import business (circa 1865-1871). Genealogical materials include a published biography of John B. Woodward (New York: De Vinne Press; 1897) commissioned by his brother Robert; biographical notes on members of the Woodward family, the British origins of the Blackburne and Cook families, a typescript (25 pages) of a biography of Robert Woodward Prosser by his nephew Roger D. Prosser (1968); and a partially completed family tree chart book along with other handwritten family trees.

This series includes approximately 50 images, circa 1850-1940, not placed in Series 1-3, generally because they are of more distant family members or are of places. Types include tintypes, daguerreotypes, cartes-de-visite, and photographs. Most are studio portraits, although there are a few photographs (one dated 1890 on the back) of family members taken with an early Kodak camera as well as photos of the Woodward summer home in Norfolk, Connecticut, and interior shots of family homes at Sands Street and 259 Henry Street in Brooklyn. A miscellaneous set of copy photographs includes identification information.