The Harrison Ludington Papers are divided into two sections. The first section relates specifically to Ludington's business activities. The correspondence (1848, 1855-1890) is mainly business letters from Anthony C. Van Schaick and falls mainly within the period of July 1884 to June 1885, and the year 1890. There is one folder of maps relating to the various land holdings of the Ludington, Wells & Van Schaick Company, in addition to Ludington's miscellaneous unsorted business papers.
The second section of the Harrison Ludington Papers concerns Ludington's financial responsibilities as executor of the estate of Harvey Birchard and guardian of Birchard's two minor heirs, Harvey Birchard, Jr., and Cordelia Ann Birchard Hennessy. Birchard's an early mercantile partner of Harrison Ludington, died in Milwaukee in 1864 and left an estate estimated at 300,000. The Birchard estate papers are comprised mainly of bills and receipts against the estate, including the financial records for the reconstruction of the Birchard Block in Milwaukee, circa 1866. Also included are Ludington's yearly financial reports as guardian for the Birchard minor heirs.
