Highlights of our holdings include correspondence from Thomas McKean, Caesar Rodney and John Dickinson - Delaware patriots; the papers authorizing the construction of the Delaware Breakwater signed by President John Quincy Adams; correspondence from Lewes and Philadelphia regarding the bombardment of Lewes by the British on April 6th & 7th, 1813, including the March 23rd letter from Comm. J.P. Beresford; materials and log books relating to the Delaware Pilots and the Philadelphia Maritime Exchange are also found here in Lewes, their home for hundreds of years.

The Society maintains an ever growing collection of Lewes-related papers, photographs and ephemera. Our general holdings are broken into several areas including genealogical, maritime, and the history of Lewes. Special emphasis is placed on related industries on Delaware River and Bay, Lewes architecture, social, religious and commercial history.

Our Archives are currently engaged in an enormous project entitled the Master Index of Lewes. With its completion, this resource will cross-reference all our holdings to allow easy location of materials dealing with properties and personalities in Lewes history. Complimenting this project, is the further documentation of current Lewes landmarks and the addition of modern images of under-represented sites, locations and landmarks.

The Society also holds files concerning the history of our Society; these include budgets, minutes, committee minutes, correspondence, special exhibitions and events and papers regarding our 12 historic house museums. In accordance with federal law, all institutional papers of the Society - as a 501 (c) (3) organization - are available to the public. The Society is also the caretaker of the papers of the Lightship Overfalls, formerly adminsitered by the Society, and transferred to the Overfalls Maritime Museum Foundation on December 7, 2001.