Series 1 consists primarily of correspondence of James Alexander and papers relating to his merchant business. Letters sent by James Alexander (mostly retained copies) are arranged alphabetically by recipient, except in cases where the recipient is unknown. In those cases, the letters are arranged chronologically. Letters received by James Alexander are arranged chronologically. Letters that were unaddressed, but which are docketed in James Alexander's handwriting, are for purposes of this arrangement considered as being addressed to him, and are in Series 1. Letters addressed to groups of persons which specifically include James Alexander are also in Series 1. Retained copies of letters written by James Alexander to more than one recipient are arranged chronologically in this series. One hand-sewn letter book contains letters regarding the "Oblong" or "Equivalent Lands" along the New York - Connecticut border. This item is foldered separately in this series.

Frequent correspondents to James Alexander include Charles Clinton, Cadwallader Colden, John Coxe, Daniel Donaldson Dunstar, a Mr. Dunstar, probably Charles Dunstar, Andrew Johnston, Gilbert, Henry and Robert Livingston, a Mr. Lyell, probably Fenwick Lyell, James Lyne, Robert Hunter Morris, Joseph Murray, David Ogden, Rodrigo Pacheco, John Stevens, and William Watson.

Most of the correspondence has to do with land titles and surveys in New Jersey. Correspondence with Cadwallader Colden concerns an area of the New York -Connecticut border (the "Oblong" or "Equivalent Lands"). Letters to and from Robert Hunter Morris, Joseph Murray and David Ogden pertain primarily to legal matters and specific court cases. Rodrigo Pacheco, a London merchant, frequently shipped goods to, and received goods from, James Alexander. John Stevens corresponded with James Alexander regarding the lease of mines in New Jersey.

Series 2 consists of correspondence and papers relating to the land holdings, merchant business, and military career of William Alexander (Lord Stirling). Letters sent by William Alexander are arranged alphabetically by recipient, except in cases where the recipient is unknown. In those cases, the letters are arranged chronologically. Most of the correspondence in this series consists of letters received by William Alexander. Letters that were not specifically addressed to William Alexander, but which are docketed in his handwriting, are for purposes of this arrangement considered as being addressed to him, and are in Series 2. Letters received by William Alexander are arranged chronologically. Separate folders contain William Alexander's correspondence to and from his brother-in-law John Stevens. At least one letter discusses the sale of slaves. Other frequent or noteworthy correspondents include Thomas Bartow, John Hancock, Peter van Brugh Livingston, and Henry Laurens.

William Alexander's business papers contain accounts, bills receipts, etc. pertaining to his contract to supply General Shirley's 1755-1756 expedition to Oswego during the French and Indian War, and accounts, bills receipts accrued during his trip to London in 1756. Other business papers pertain to William Alexander's interest in the Hibernia mine and Hibernia furnace in northern New Jersey, his interest in the snow Unicorn and his joint business ventures with [Henry] Livingston.

Among the legal papers specific to Series 2 are indentures (1764-1774) of servants to William Alexander.

Series 3 consists primarily of correspondence and papers relating to the land holdings, merchant business, and estate of Mary Alexander. Much of her business was conducted with the merchant house of David Barclay & Sons of London. Invoices from this firm sometimes include samples of fabrics that Mary Alexander had requested or purchased. Most of the letters in the collection received by Mary Alexander are from this firm. Letters received by Mary Alexander are arranged chronologically. There are only two letters in the collection for which Mary Alexander is the sender. One is to Jonathan Scott (August 10, [1756]), the subject of which is unclear, and the other is to James Stevenson (September 17, 1757) and concerns business.

Other business papers of Mary Alexander consist of accounts, bills, receipts, and invoices. One folder of material consists of legal and business papers regarding Mary Alexander's estate.

Series 4 consists of correspondence of persons other than James, William and Mary Alexander. This includes those members of the Alexander Family who are not extensively represented in the collection, and members of the Rutherfurd Family, which was related to the Alexanders by marriage. Also included in this series are several letters of John Prevoost, Mary Alexander's son by her first marriage. Letters written by members of the Rutherfurd Family, and by John Prevoost, are foldered separately, and arranged chronologically. All other letters are arranged in a single chronology. Frequently appearing in the series are letters to and from Joseph Murray, Cortlandt Skinner, and Thomas Bartow.

Series 5 contains Legal Papers. For purposes of this arrangement, Legal Papers refers to those papers such as wills, contracts, conveyances, deeds, etc. that do not pertain to court cases. Because most of the legal papers in the collection have to do with the sale or transfer of lands in New Jersey, legal papers are arranged by county. The papers are then arranged chronologically within the county. Usually the parties to the land transfers are members of the Board of Proprietors transferring property among themselves, or to and from other holders of large tracts. In some instances, however, the parties are settlers (or proprietors), and Indians. Occasionally appearing among the legal papers are leases from landlords to tenants.

In addition to the legal papers in boxes 12 -19, there are seven oversize deeds in the collection. These oversize items are not foldered, and are in boxes 59 and 60.

For purposes of this arrangement, Surveys are any papers created specifically to detail the boundaries of privately held land. Of these, there are two kinds: first, items that include scale drawings of the area surveyed; second; items usually referred to as returns of surveys, which give a written description of the boundaries of a tract, but have no drawing.

Surveys are arranged by county, then alphabetically by the surname of the owner of the surveyed tract. In most instances, officials of the Surveyor General's office identified surveys by noting the names of the tract's owners on the verso of the survey. In almost every instance, even in the absence of such a notation, the surveyor himself names the owner(s) of the surveyed tract in the body of the survey. In instances when two or more owners are identified for a given tract, the survey is placed in the alphabet according to the surname of the first identified owner. Researchers should be aware that in their returns, officials were not consistent in the way that they listed the owners of tracts. Two surveys done for the same group of owners, therefore, might be alphabetized in the series under different letters, depending upon which owner's name was listed first on the return.

In the Surveys series, are folders titled "Unidentified or Multiple Owners". These folders contain two types of material. The first type is surveys of tracts whose owners cannot be identified. The second type is surveys of several (usually adjacent) tracts, wherein no single owner's tract is identified as the subject of the survey.

The last subseries in the Surveys series is of warrants granted by the Proprietors for tracts of land. These documents authorized the Surveyor General to survey a tract of a prescribed size for the grantee. The warrants do not name or designate specific tracts, but in many instances were issued as a preliminary to the undertaking of a survey, and thus correspond to items in the Surveys series. Almost all of the material of this kind in the collection was created by the East New Jersey Proprietors, with only one folder deriving from West New Jersey.

Approximate inclusive dates of material within each folder are indicated on the upper right hand corner of the folders in this series.

Court Papers are any papers, not including correspondence, which pertain to court cases. These include writs, warrants, motions, statements of case, pleas, and indictments. Also included in this series are the findings of Coroner's Juries. In most instances, the material is arranged by the name of the county in which a given trial took place, or in instances where the county is not specified or is unclear, by the name of the colony/state in which the trial took place. Courts whose jurisdictions were not confined to a single county appear in separate subseries.

Criminal cases and civil cases are separate folder groups within each county, colony/state, or court subseries. Civil cases are arranged alphabetically by the surname of the plaintiff, criminal cases are arranged alphabetically by the surname of the defendant. In instances where more than one plaintiff or defendant is identified, the material is alphabetized by the surname of the first named plaintiff or defendant. In some instances, the spelling of surnames varies from one item to the next (e.g. Reyerse/Ryerse or Ten Eyck/Ten Eick/Ten Ike). In those instances, if the elements (date, venue, other proper names, etc.) of two or more documents indicate that they pertain to the same prosecution or suit, the items were filed together, regardless of the nonidentical spellings.

In those instances when a court's jurisdiction is not restricted to a particular county, the material is arranged by the name of the court. Within the Court papers series, there are subseries for the New Jersey Court of Chancery, the New Jersey Court of Vice-Admiralty, and the New York Court of Admiralty.

Cases heard by the New Jersey Supreme Court are sometimes identified as pertaining to specific counties within the colony/state. These Supreme Court cases are therefore interfiled within the county subseries. Other New Jersey Supreme Court cases are identified as having been heard in one or the other of the colony/state's capital cities (Perth Amboy, Burlington, or Trenton). Cases heard in any of these cities are filed together in a separate subseries (New Jersey Supreme Court). Civil and criminal cases are separate folder groups within this subseries.

Cases heard by the New York Supreme Court are almost invariably identified as having been heard in New York City. New York Supreme Court cases are interfiled with other New York County civil or criminal cases. New York Supreme Court cases heard in Albany are interfiled with Albany County cases.

Finally in the Court Papers Series is a subseries called Unidentified Cases. The first folder in this series consists of items that pertain to identifiable cases, but for which a location and court are unclear. Such cases are filed in a single alphabet of civil and criminal cases, by the name of the plaintiff. In criminal cases, the plaintiff is The King or The State.

The remaining folders in the Unidentified Cases subseries consist of items that document procedures, testimony, arguments made, and authorities cited in cases that cannot be identified by plaintiff, defendant or venue. This material is sorted by form, and by date. Since it is not always possible to identify which material relates to civil and which to criminal cases, the material is interfiled in a single subseries. This material includes affidavits and depositions, opinions, arguments and briefs, and memoranda.

Cases that can be identified by plaintiff and defendant have been recorded in a database.

Approximate inclusive dates of material within each folder are indicated on the upper right hand corner of the folders in this series.

Series 8 consists of papers relating to the Proprietors of the respective divisions of the colony of New Jersey, primarily the Eastern Division. The series includes minutes of the Proprietors' meetings, reports, accounts, and memoranda. This material certain aspects of the administration of the proprietorship, including the advertising, surveying, and sale of lands, and the distribution of dividends. Other material concerns the dispute between the Eastern and Western Proprietors over the exact location of the boundary between East and West New Jersey. Also included in this series is the diary (1752-1775) of George Ryerse, who acted as the Eastern Proprietors' agent in Bergen County.

Series 9 consists of papers relating to the colony/state of New Jersey, including drafts of legislation, instructions to personnel of the Surveyor general's office, and copies of commissions issued to colony/state officials.

Series 10 consists of papers relating to the colony/state of New York, including drafts of legislation, petitions, material regarding the establishment of the New York - Connecticut boundary (the "Oblong" or "Equivalent Lands") and material regarding the establishment of the New York - New Jersey boundary.

Business Papers are those papers pertaining to the business affairs of persons other than James, William and Mary Alexander. The series contains accounts, bills, receipts, memoranda, etc of a wide variety of persons. Included in the series is material created by or pertaining to a group of New York landowners collectively called the Second Nine Partners, attorney Cortlandt Skinner, the merchant house of McVickar & Hill, New York merchant Robert Snell, and merchants Andrew Bell and Peter Smitzer, both of Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Also in the series are accounts, bills, and receipts whose creators or principals cannot be identified.

The remainder of the collection consists of historical notes, genealogical material that appears to have been compiled in the 1880's by an unidentified person, a manuscript regarding vendue sales, author unidentified, probably dating from the last quarter of the 18th century, and fragments.