Series V. Rebecca Maria (Northey) Buffum (1825- ) Papers mostly contains correspondence. Rebecca's letters are primarily undated and in fragmentary form. Writing chiefly to her mother and brother William, she describes the activities of friends and family, her hiking trips, and the many religious and abolitionist lectures which she attended. Such lectures included those of her friends William Lloyd Garrison and Samuel Johnson. She also speaks of meeting the president of the Underground Railroad in 1860.

Much of the correspondence to Rebecca consists of letters from the Bridges, Chase, and Whitney sisters. The letters of these intelligent and articulate women note the lectures and sermons which they attended, lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederic Frothingham, Thomas W. Higginson, Samuel Johnson, Samuel Longfellow, Theodore Parker, and Wendell Phillips. In addition, the correspondence of Eliza, Elizabeth, and Fidelia Bridges describes their attempts to open a school, first in Salem and then in Brooklyn, New York (circa 1854). Anne and Sarah Whitney's letters include discussions of Quaker ideology and the abolitionist movement. Anne also recounts an 1856 meeting with Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell who was then raising funds for a women's hospital and medical school. Additional correspondence includes letters from Rebecca's cousin Martha Boody, who relates scenes from the teaching experiences in Boston (1844) and short notes from James Mott and William Lloyd Garrison (1856).