Letters to C.W Lawrence, Collector of Customs at the Port of New York, dealing with the interpretation of tariff acts and enforcement of customs regulations, including information concerning import duties, drawbacks, expenses for maintaining revenue vessels and customs property, and the names of many vessels.

Correspondence, documents, research notes, clippings and articles collected by John A. and Laura S. Saunders regarding the Saunders' family shipbuilding, shipyard and ferry operations. The Saunders family built several schooners, steamboats, ferries and yachts in their Rhode Island shipyards. Several members of the family held either Pilot's Certificates or ship master's licenses which along with some bills of sale are included in the collection.