This series consists of historical and genealogical information about the Ames and Butler families, and includes correspondence, notes, family trees, directories, books, clippings, and newsletters. Further materials pertaining to specific individuals are located primarily in SERIES III. INDIVIDUALS.

The nine subseries are listed alphabetically either by property name or by the town or city in which it is, or was, located.

This series contains information about various properties owned by the extended Ames and Butler families. The nine subseries are listed alphabetically either by property name or by the town or city in which it is, or was, located: Bay View, Borderland, Boston, Highland Meadows, Oakes Ames Memorial Hall, The Whim, Winthrop Ames Mansion, Miscellaneous U.S. Real Estate, and Villa Balbianello. The histories of Borderland, now a Massachusetts state park, and Villa Balbianello, now owned by the Italian government, are documented particularly well. Types of materials include correspondence, contracts and leases, deeds, floor plans, drawings, maps, financial information, and reports. Information that is limited to the residences of nuclear families (as opposed to family compounds, jointly owned properties, or real estate ultimately taken over by state or national governments) is located in SERIES III. INDIVIDUALS. Photographs of many of the buildings and grounds described in this series may be found in SERIES IV. PHOTOGRAPHS.

This series is arranged first by generation and then alphabetically by last name.

This series comprises the bulk of the collection, and is arranged first by generation and then alphabetically by last name. Spouses follow directly after the member of the Ames and Butler families to whom they are, or were, married. Correspondence in this series is voluminous and is filed primarily by author. However, the papers of some individuals contain both outgoing and incoming correspondence, when the total volume of a correspondent's papers did not warrant a discrete subseries for that person. In addition to correspondence, this series contains biographical and financial information and, particularly in the papers of Blanche Butler Ames, Blanche Ames Ames and Pauline Ames Plimpton, extensive files about their writings. The papers of Blanche Ames Ames richly document the early years of the Massachusetts Birth Control League and related organizations; files pertaining to her suffrage activities, including the cartoons in the Art subseries, are also noteworthy. Related materials about most individuals in this series are located in SERIES I. FAMILY HISTORY, SERIES II. REAL ESTATE, and SERIES IV. PHOTOGRAPHS; further information about civil, cultural, military and political issues of interest to Adelbert Ames may be found in SERIES V. CLIPPINGS.

This series contains most of the photographs pertaining to the Ames and Butler families, with the following exceptions: Photographs originally found in Blanche Ames Ames's Smith College scrapbook are filed in her biographical subseries, and photographs relating to books are filed with the individual author's papers. The three subseries follow exactly the arrangement of the first three primary series: Family history, Real estate, and Individuals. The Real estate and Individuals subseries are extensive and contain formal portraits as well as casual photographs of the family at work and at play. pertain

This series consists entirely of newspaper clippings cut by Adelbert Ames from unidentified newspapers. The clippings, some of which are annotated, document a variety of subjects of particular interest to Ames and also provide a unique overview of national and international politics and culture over more than half a century.