This series consists primarily of advertisements and images from Victorian-era publications. Dorsey cut the images out, pasted them onto notebook paper, and arranged them into three-ring binders by topic. The binders have been disbound and the material housed in acid-free folders.

The illustrations in the series cover a broad range of topics, from fashion (the largest single category) to fire-fighting equipment. Many of the topics relate to household and interior design, for example, cases and boxes, silver and cutlery, garden statuary, lighting, house design, etc. There are also a number of pictorial vignettes and genre scenes of children, courtship and romance, and outdoor recreation. Animals and plants are also well-represented.

Although most of the images arranged by subject are wood engravings, there is also a separate category of "wood engravings" at the end of the series, which was originally housed in three binders. Dorsey prepared a subject index for these binders (included in Box 11, Folder 1), which lists the following topics: artists, automobiles, balloons, bicycles, buildings, children, Christmas, circus, clocks and watches, design devices, drinking, entertainment, flowers, food and dining, general store, home furnishing, horses and wagons, hotels, houses, medicine, men, music, office furnishings, optical, patriotic and symbols, perfume, photography, rope, rural, ships, sports, stores, telegram, toys, trains, trolley, weather, the west, winter, and women.

This series includes Dorsey's proposal for a book on the Centennial Exhibition. Also included are several "concept" scrapbooks containing proposals for two theatrical musicals: "The Ballad of Josie and Jim", about the murder of robber baron Jim Fiske over actress Josie Mansfield, and "Centennial Quartette", a celebration of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Dorsey also submitted the latter for consideration as a motion picture or television production, as is reflected by correspondence included in the series. None of these projects were realized.

In addition, the series contains some of Dorsey's research files, consisting primarily of contemporaneous newspaper and magazine articles on the Bicentennial of 1976 and a few other topics (Antiques, Art Nouveau, the Metropolitan Opera House and Restaurants and Food). There are also a few folders of ephemera, primarily relating to architectural preservation and tourism in New York City in the 1960's and 1970's. Among the ephemera items are flyers for lectures on architectural preservation, brochures and maps for walking tours of New York City, brochures on churches and other historic buildings, and a 1905 Report of the Queens United Civic Association's Committee on City Plan and Parks. In the folder labeled "Assorted Ephemera" are tickets to the 1964 World's Fair, the 1974 Art Deco Exposition, and programs for two performances at Carnegie Hall (1898 and 1899) and a 1929 production of the Frieburg Passion Play at the New York Hippodrome.

Series III, Scrapbooks, contains an eclectic assortment of vintage illustrations and ephemera that Dorsey pasted into scrapbooks organized by topic. Materials include newspaper and magazine clippings, articles and other textual material, illustrations, photographs, postcards, greeting cards, advertisements, programs, and many other types of ephemera. Although the bulk of the materials are vintage, Dorsey also mixed in some contemporaneous (circa 1960's - 1970's) photographs and articles.

Dorsey arranged these materials into elaborate topical scrapbooks that serve as interesting and creative reference files on a broad range of subjects. The largest segment of this series relates to New York City, covering topics such as Wall Street, the Fire Department, street cleaning, the poor and destitute, and many others which are specifically identified in the box and folder list, below. There are also scrapbooks relating to other American cities and states, especially the American West, and to European countries and other foreign locales. Other topics include dining, hotels and resorts (in New York and elsewhere), sports, ships, trains, houses, furnishings and people (including African Americans and other ethnic groups). There are a number of scrapbooks relating to fairs and expositions, including the Crystal Palace, Centennial Exposition, World's Columbian Exposition, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

The original binders were also created by Dorsey, and feature cardboard covers with sometimes elaborate lettering and decorations, bound together with three metal rings. The scrapbooks have been disbound and re-housed in acid-free folders. A few representative examples of the binders have been retained.

This series contains a number of collages created by Dorsey from cut-outs and other decorative elements. Dorsey apparently marketed these collages as "Decou-Optiques" to advertisers and other clients for use as a decorative element or for a background. Among the scenes depicted are the 1876 Centennial (possibly used by Dorsey to pitch his book and musical projects), Christmas scenes, winter scenes, and various Western-themed scenes.

The majority of the collages are in black and white; color collages are identified in the box and folder list. The lettering system is Dorsey's.

Also included in the series are examples of the materials Dorsey used to create the collages, such as decals and cut-out figures.

Dorsey prepared subject indexes for some of his scrapbooks that are included in this series. In addition, there are a few articles and press releases that provide a bit of biographical information, as well as multiple copies of studio photographic portraits of Dorsey. Also included are examples of advertisements and articles from commercial clients of Dorsey that incorporate images from his library.