Series II. Stephen Clarendon Phillips (1801-1857) Papers contains ships' papers, shipping and business papers, and civic papers. Subseries A. Ships' Papers, range from 1820 to 1849, and includes account books, accounts, protests, and correspondence with captains and merchant houses regarding vessels which Stephen C. Phillips owned. Of interest are the protest papers and accounts relating to the gale damage rendered to the ship St. Paul on its 1840 run from Manila to Salem (Volume 1).

Subseries B. Shipping and Business Papers, 1820-1856, contains papers for more than one ship or for cargo carried on non-Phillips vessels. The business papers also include documentation of miscellaneous financial transactions conducted for friends, and an early report to the petitioners for the Salem and Lowell Railroad. Of interest in the miscellaneous shipping and business correspondence are letters to and from J. Willard Peele in Manila discussing the status of the China trade. The account memorandum book of 1839-1841 and the 1828-1837 account book also contain accounts of Phillips' guardianship of Alfred C. Appleton.

Subseries C. Civic Papers, 1824-1855, documents Stephen Clarendon Phillips' involvement in such civic societies as the Salem Lyceum, the American Unitarian Association, and the Sunday School. Most of the memorandum books (1831- circa 1831) related to his years in the Massachusetts Senate and the United States Congress.