The Stephen Willard Phillips papers document this Salem, Massachusetts, man's professional activities as an historian and collector. A small portion of the collection is related to some of his civic activities. This collection does not document Phillips' legal or political work and provides little information relative to his family life. The collection consists of correspondence, financial materials, printed matter, holograph essays, and collections of stamps and manuscripts. The papers have been organized into four series.

Series I. Professional Activities represents the surviving evidence of Phillips' work as historian and collector. Papers attributed to Phillips and others (B1 F1) are mostly associated with the history and culture of Hawaii, with particular emphasis upon the activities of Captain James Cook. Other important items include a complete set of page proofs from the exhibition catalog The Hawaiian Portion of the Polynesian Collections in the Peabody Museum of Salem (1920) and research notes concerning voyages of the ship Wager from 1740-1746 (B1 F3).

Subseries B. Correspondence contains letters to Phillips as well as outgoing letters. The majority of the correspondence was received from book collectors, historians, and curators. Of particular interest are letters from Clarence Brigham (American Antiquarian Society), Worthington C. Ford (Massachusetts Historical Society), and Lawrence C. Jenkins (Peabody Museum of Salem). An enclosure in the Jenkins correspondence and a letter from an unidentified "Miss Allen" provide interesting insights into Hawaiian culture.

Subseries C. Diaries contains three volumes of diaries or day books.

Subseries D. Financial consists of various personal financial papers.

Subseries E. Printed Matter consists of a variety of ephemeral printed items. News clippings include a eulogy of Stephen Henry Philips [father] and notice of the opening of the Haverhill Historical Society's building, "The Buttonwoods", in 1904. This series also contains Phillips' Certificate of Naturalization, an exhibition poster of the ship Recovery of Salem, and a Merchants National Bank calendar with illustrations of historic houses in Salem (B15 F2).

Series II. Collections consists of manuscripts, autographs, printed items, scrapbooks, and illustrations divided into sub-series that reflect the intellectual organization intended by Stephen Willard Phillips. Subseries A. Stamp Collection Albums contains four albums of foreign and domestic stamps plus some loose stamps. Subseries B. Document Collections has been divided into five groups. Personal documents (B6 through 9 and 15) bear the signature of prominent individuals such as American Presidents, signers of the Declaration of Independence, British statesmen and admiralty, writers, and scholars. Many of the individuals represented were important figures in the history of Salem. For a comprehensive list of signatories, see Appendix I. The autographs consist of document fragments bearing the signature of other individuals (B9). Hawaiian materials (B15) include newspaper articles on the death of Queen Tamehamalu (1824), and a printed letter by Na Kekuanaoa to "The French Gentlemen" (1837). The Essex County materials consist of the eighteenth-century commission of officers in the Essex Regiment, seventeenth-century deeds and indentures from Haverhill, Massachusetts, and a subscription list of the First Regiment of Essex County from Salem (circa 1776). The miscellaneous folder (B2 F6) features early printing samples such as leaves from William Caxton's translation of Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legends, one of the twelve editions published at Westminster between 1485 and 1527.

Subseries C. Gorham Gilman Papers was apparently retained by Phillips as documentation of Hawaiian history. Gilman lived in Hawaii for at least 20 years and was eventually appointed "Hawaiian Consul at Boston." His papers document the intellectual conflict of the Hawaiian occupation, the provisional government, and the eventual annexation. Press clippings, poetry, ephemera, and additional correspondence relative to the Hawaiian question are located in Gilman's scrapbooks.

Subseries D. Charles Warren Stoddard Papers contains the papers of this South Seas adventurer and writer whose close relationship with the Hawaiian royal family is documented by the correspondence that Phillips saved. Correspondence that remains with the Stoddard papers includes letters from Hawaiian natives and residents written in English and French. Stoddard's scrapbook (B13) contains a number of articles regarding Joaquin Miller, an American writer who was apparently a close friend. [The scrapbook also contains letters from Minnie Myrtle Miller, Joaquin's wife.]

Subseries E. Woodbridge Family Papers was originally identified by Phillips as the Mary Woodbridge Papers, but the majority of the material related to other family members. Documentation of the Dudley Woodbridge estate is included along with William Woodridge correspondence and an insurance policy.

Subseries F. Miscellaneous includes a cargo list documenting a voyage on the ship Nixon to Rotterdam in 1804. There are two account books for the Dover Horse Railroad listing payroll and other financial information. An unidentified ship chandler's business ledger shows the accounts of prominent Salem citizens including George Crowninshield and Captain Joseph Orne (ship Essex). Other entries include William Jenkins (cabinetmaker), Dr. Edward A. Holyoke, and individuals from a number of eastern ports. Box 19 contains approximately 500 prints and illustrations that Phillips collected. Box 20 contains 11 maps, mostly of the South Pacific, but including one of Salem in 1793 as described by Benjamin Pickman and prepared under the direction of Stephen W. Phillips.

Series III. Civic Activities documents two of Phillips' major projects. Subseries A. Peirce-Nichols House Preservation consists of correspondence and reports relative to an Essex Institute project for which Philips was treasurer. Subseries B. Punhou School/Oahu College documents fundraising for the private school in Hawaii for which Phillips, James M. Hunnewell, and William R. Castle were trustees.

Series IV. Photographs consists of approximately 600 photographs of Hawaii, family members, friends, artwork, and places of interest to Phillips. Many of the photographs are unidentified and undated.