The Orne Family Papers are unique in several aspects. The most obvious distinction is that the papers span a 166 year, six generation period. Another important aspect of these papers is that they are matrilineal; they were collected by, and passed along the female lines. While the fathers, husbands, brothers and sons weave in and out of the papers, it is the women who maintain the thread, and the collection focuses on the interplay between the business and domestic aspects of eighteenth and nineteenth century life.

The personal papers reflect domestic life and include letters from Elizabeth Orne to her daughter "Peg" (Margaret "Peggy" Orne) detailing social life and customs in 18th century Salem. Persons represented include Capt. Timothy Orne (1683-1752), merchant and landowner; his son, Timothy Orne (1717-1767), merchant; and grandson, Timothy (d. 1789), Salem merchant involved in coastal and international trade, and his wife, Elizabeth Sewall (Pynchon) Orne (1752-1822), daughter of Salem attorney William Pynchon (d. 1789), who after the death of her husband and father, continued to live in Salem, managing both business and domestic affairs, operating a brickyard with her son-in-law Col. Thomas Cushing (d. 1808), son of Hon. Thomas Cushing (1725-1788) and husband of Catherine Orne. Other family members represented include Catherine (Orne) Cushing, who married Elisha Mack after Thomas Cushing's death; the children of Catherine and Thomas Cushing: Capt. Timothy Orne Cushing (merchant who often worked with stepfather Elisha Mack and brother-in-law Luke Baldwin), and Catherine Orne (Cushing) Baldwin; Luke Baldwin, Jr., also a Boston merchant; and Catherine Orne (Baldwin) Tappan and her husband John Tappan.