Primarily oil portraits of 18th century literary figures. There are also engravings, and pen and ink and pencil sketches. Among the literary figures are portraits of Samuel Butler, Lord Byron, Thomas Carlyle; Colley Cibber; Charles Dickens; John Evelyn; John Foxe; David Garrick; Thomas Gray; Charles Lamb; Sir Thomas More; Sir Walter Raleigh; Samuel Richardson; Richard B. Sheridan; Alfred, Lord Tennyson; William M. Thackeray; and others. There is also a portrait by Blanche Ames of George A. Plimpton. Among the artists represented in the collection are James Maubert, Frederick Sandys, and William Hogarth (attrib.)