Addie Genevieve Stockwell was born on November 7, 1889 in West Simsbury, Connecticut to Addie G. Dennison and Samuel F. Stockwell. She attended Simsbury and Hartford schools. She graduated from Smith College in 1912 and went on to hold positions teaching math and science in New York and Connecticut. Some letters in the collection are from former pupils. In 1918, Stockwell attended a nurses training program at Vassar College, and worked in Bellevue Hospital in New York City during the flu epidemic. After her work as a nurse, she returned to teaching in Collinsville, Connecticut. In 1922, she married Harold W. Humphrey, a widow with one son. The couple had four children, two sons and two daughters, and they lived on a dairy farm. Stockwell was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and remained in touch with former students. She died after a series of strokes in 1944.

The bulk of letters are from 1910 to 1912. The letters are mostly between Stockwell and her parents. There are also several letters (including wedding invitations) from other family members, some during the summer from Smith friends. The friend from whom there is the most correspondence is Stockwell's roommate Ruth Benjamin (?), Class of 1912. Letters post-1912 are mostly from former students, but there is correspondence with her family as well.

The letters deal with a wide variety of topics. They provide a picture of daily life at home and at college, including descriptions of what Stockwell and her friends in Hubbard House did for fun and her worries about exams and spending money. She mentions Smith traditions such as Mountain Day, the Junior Frolic and Glee Club Concerts, and important individuals such as President Laurenus C. Seelye. Several of the letters also discuss topics of broader historical interest, including a detailed description of her work as a nurse in a New York City Hospital during the 1918 Flu Epidemic, letters from friends serving in World War I, and others which describe the anxieties of the war. She also mentions attending suffragist meetings and seeing an exhibition on child abuse put on by Hull House.

The collection also contains memorabilia from Stockwell's years at Smith, including a commencement program, tuition bill, calling cards, and photographs.