This collection contains business and personal correspondence, financial records and ships' papers, account books, photographs, genealogy, and research material. It has been organized into six series.

Series I. Correspondence has been divided into Subseries A. Business and Subseries B. Personal. Each subseries has been arranged chronologically. Business correspondents include John B. Upton, Alfred L. Coffin, Thomas Smull, William B. Ware, George K. Benedict, William Quinn, Daniel R. B. Upton, R. W. Ropes, Williams Cummings & Son, Brown Shipley and Company, R. C. Lloyd, Thomas Brown and Company, and more. Personal correspondents include his wife, Mary C. Peck; his mother, Abigail S. Ware; his sister, Harriet Page; his father-in-law, William H. Peck; and William Prichard, among others.

Series II. Ships' Papers include bills of lading, bills of cargo, correspondence, expenses, insurance papers, prices current, receipts, legal papers, bills of sale, and other documents relating to the 88 ships that Ware used to carry goods to and from Africa. This series is organized by ship name with general documents at the end of the series.

Series III. Financial Records have been divided into two subseries. Each subseries has been arranged chronologically. Subseries A. Business includes account books, trial balances, journals, bank statements, receipts, bills, cargo inventories, correspondence, insurance matters, and more. The journal entitled “E. R. W. Gambia”, dated 1858-1861, has many loose pieces of paper throughout it, most appear to be acting as page markers. Subseries B. Personal includes receipts for household expenses and accounts as administrator for the estates of his mother, and two sisters.

Series IV. Legal Papers include powers of attorney, agreements, a summons, a will, and more.

Series V. Other Papers include copies of newspapers, Ware's two ship-board diaries, a circular, a photograph, and a small burlap bag.

Series VI. Edward Richmond Ware Papers have been divided into five subseries. Each subseries has been arranged chronologically. Subseries A. Research and Writings on West Africa include maps, correspondence, photographs, and copies of an article Dr. Ware wrote about the health hazards of the West African trader. Subseries B. Research and Writings on Enoch Richmond Ware include correspondence, notes, research materials, and copies of articles Dr. Ware wrote about his grandfather in the 1950s and 1960s. Subseries C. George E. Brooks, Jr. Material includes correspondence, an article, and drafts of a book Brooks wrote. Subseries D. Family Papers contain Dr. Ware's father's medical journal, genealogy, and photographs. Subseries E. Other contains two copies of American Neptune that Dr. Ware probably used for research.

Some original order was kept; however, there is no distinction made between original folder titles and those provided by the processor. Two logbooks were removed from the collection and cataloged separately.