This series includes genealogical research and notes of various Ludington family members. Also included are two books with more detailed biographical and genealogical information: a memoir of Colonel Henry Ludington, by Willis Fletcher Johnson, and the Ludington-Saltus Records, compiled by Ethel (Saltus) Ludington. There is also a copy of The Spy Unmasked, by H.S. Barnum, an account of Enoch Crosby, a Patriot spy during the Revolution. Crosby was friendly with Colonel Henry Ludington, sometimes lodging with the family, and is believed to be the model for the character Harvey Birch in James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Spy.

This series consists primarily of correspondence between the members of Lewis Ludington's family: his wife, Polly, and children Laura, Delia, William Edgar, Robert, Charles, James, Lavinia, Emily and Amelia. The majority of the letters are to or from Charles Ludington. Topics include school, travel, and business matters of Charles Ludington's dry goods business in New York City, and of the family lumber business in Milwaukee.

Notable letters include a description of traveling through Detroit in the 1840's; a description of the Whig parade in New York on October 30, 1844; a letter regretting Henry Clay losing the election of 1844; various letters about Lavinia attending the Rutgers Female Institute; a letter describing the fire at Niblo's Garden in 1846; a description of the funeral of John Quincy Adams in 1848; a rapturous letter about seeing singer Jenny Lind in 1850; and a letter expressing outrage over Lincoln's assassination in 1865. There are a few letters from James Ludington in the 1860's on the topic of his sister Laura's husband Robert, who was an alcoholic. Most of the later family correspondence is between Charles and James, and deals primarily with business matters.

In addition to family correspondence, there is a folder of letters from George W. Chapman, agent for Lathrop, Ludington & Co., to Charles Ludington, regarding business and employment matters. There is also one folder of correspondence from various other non-family members, primarily concerning business matters. Correspondents include Robert Lathrop, Panama Canal promoter Frederick Kelley, and Congressmen Augustus Frank, George W. Patterson, and William Walter Phelps.

Two additional folders of correspondence have been organized by topic: "Civil War Correspondence" deals primarily with recruiting efforts in Carmel, New York, which Charles Ludington supported; and "Art Correspondence," which includes letters between Charles Ludington and various artists and art dealers, including Jervis McEntee, Sanford Gifford, and Jacob Wrey Mould.

This series also includes a journal kept by Charles Ludington from 1842 to 1847. It includes colorful descriptions of various events in New York City, such as the procession to celebrate completion of the Croton Aqueduct, and gives a real flavor of daily life during that time period. Charles made frequent visits to the family home in Carmel and also describes trips to and from the Wisconsin Territory, where his father had established a lumber business. A transcription of the journal is also included.

This series contains a variety of financial and legal records, primarily of Lewis Ludington and Charles Ludington. It includes two account books which appear to be from the store Lewis opened in 1817 with his older brother Frederick, along with assorted loose receipts and accounts. Also included are receipts of banking transactions with various New York firms, including Meigs & Greenleaf, Robinson, Chase & Co., and others. Legal documents include successive partnership agreements between Charles Ludington and Richard Lathrop, and statements relating to the estate of Charles Ludington. Also included are Henry Ludington's military commissions and the will of Elisha Ludington, Henry Ludington's uncle and father-in-law.

This series contains invitations, calling and business cards, programs, menus, and other ephemera from the many civic and cultural institutions with which Charles Ludington was associated. These include the Citizens Association of New York, the Chamber of Commerce, the New York Young Men's Christian Association, the Century Club, the American Art Union, the National Academy of Design, and many others.

Civil war related ephemera includes confederate currency and newspapers, U.S.Sanitary Fair Commission announcements, reports from various relief associations, menus and other printed material from the Union League, a printed program of George Bancroft's eulogy for Abraham Lincoln, and the crepe mourning band Charles Ludington wore following Lincoln's assassination.

Other notable items include an invitation and seating chart for the banquet honoring the officers of the French National Ship Isere, which carried the Statue of Liberty to the United States; invitations to and announcements of art exhibitions and auctions; and a solicitation of paintings from private collections for the opening of the new Metropolitan Museum building in Central Park.

This series consists primarily of photos taken on trips of the family of Charles Ludington, Jr. and his wife, Ethel Saltus Ludington. Also included are other family portraits, and a framed drawing of a farm by Charles Ludington.

This series consists primarily of engraving plates depicting family members and residences, most likely used for the genealogical volumes published by the family. A few family artifacts are also included.