These papers consist chiefly of intimate and wide-ranging correspondence with Bishop William Rollinson Whittingham. Only four items date before 1851, when Williams became Bishop Coadjutor of Connecticut. They praise Whittingham's sermon on the priesthood of 1843, which caused controversy in the Diocese of Maryland, and minor matters. Papers of Williams's episcopate include much material on affairs of the Diocese of Connecticut, the General Conventions, and issues confronting the Church. Much concerns relations with the Roman Catholic and Congregational Churches, and especially with the Church of England, including negotiations about Lambeth Conferences, doubts that the Church should attend the Conference of 1877, correspondence with British bishops, particularly the Bishops of Winchester and Edinburgh, questions of vesting the patriarchate in the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1874, and attitudes towards Archbishop Tait. Letters of the Reverend A. Cleveland Coxe comment on Williams's character and abilities. The Bishop's letters frequently express admiration and friendship for Whittingham, consulting him on many matters of policy and administration, such as business of the House of Bishops, efforts of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies to reduce the authority of bishops, canons against ritual, requirements for theological studies, etc. Letters of the Civil War period support Whittingham's controversial stand for the Union in Maryland; consult him on the legality of Bishop Henry C. Lay's resignation of part of his jurisdiction, 1861; mention Bishop Thomas Atkinson's communication of 1862 as a ray of light; discuss resignation of rectors in Washington, D.C., 1862; and oppose drafting clergymen for military duty, 1865. Williams's Civil War prayers are also included. Later letters deal with expansion of the Episcopal Church in the western states, praise Bishop John B. Kerfoot, support the Freedmans' Commission, 1865-1868, and urge Whittingham to write a Pastoral Letter from the Bishops to the Episcopal Church at large, 1868. There is also material concerning the Diocese of New York, 1869; the conduct and schism of Bishop George D. Cummins, 1869-1875; Williams's controversy with Ewer, 1870; work of the Committee on Theological Studies of the House of Bishops, 1871; Williams's opposition to the Society of St. John the Evangelist (Cowley Fathers) 1871-1872; High and Low Church controversies; Williams's strenuous visitations of 1873, with ninety-seven services in ninety-one days; and affairs of the Dioceses of Illinois, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac, Kentucky, and Iowa. Substantial material concerns Williams's relations with many bishops, including Levi S. Ives, Charles C. Penick, Abram N. Littlejohn, and William C. Doane, as well as many other clergymen, among them James De Koven.