The collection contains primarily nineteenth century individual portrait photographs. A small portion of photographs are of identified individuals. When the photographer or sitter is known, the identification is noted in the listing. The images include daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes (also called ferrotypes), card images, and card images in an album. Most dates are approximate ones determined by internal evidence.

James A. Sugar, ('67), professionally known as "Jim" was a contract photographer for National Geographic for 22 years. This collection is almost entirely portraits of Wesleyan faculty and administrators. It also includes three views of Dennison Terrace, located between Olin Library and Andrus Field.

Daguerreotypes and an ambrotype make up the mid-nineteenth century cased images. Most of the images are individual head and shoulder portraits, some in composites, a few are full length portraits. Typically the individuals depicted bear a Wesleyan connection.