The collection of Rev. Henry Winter Syle is a large collection from 1832 to 1975.

The collection consists mostly church related papers between 1870’s and 1890’s. The collection consists of correspondence, booklets, photographs, sermons, church related papers, genealogy, conversation notes, and reports. Most of these papers are Deaf related. The collection is broken up into sixteen series.

They included general correspondence, subject files, business general files, outgoing letters, letter press books, letters to and from his wife, Margaret Syle, Rev. Henry Winter Syle’s children, Rev. Henry Winter Syle’s relatives, Syle family, Margaret Syle’s general correspondence, Margaret Syle’s relatives, church general files, churches, sermons, schools and organizations, and conversation notes. There are 39 boxes in this collection. The bulk of the collection is series one: general correspondence from family, friends, businesses, churches, and organizations.

These letters came from well-known Deaf people and people who worked with the Deaf community: John B. Hotchkiss, George Wing, Ranald Douglas, Edward Miner Gallaudet, Thomas Gallaudet, Edward Fay, and Rev. Francis Clerc.

A folder called, Genealogy, contains information about Syle’s family and the history. There is a family tree with the whole family members, including George Washington, who was the first President of the United States. Also, included Henry Winter Davis (uncle of Rev. Henry Winter Syle), who was a senator from Baltimore, MD, on the family tree.

The church related papers contain letters, reports, and booklets. It also included All Soul’s Church in Philadelphia, which Rev. Henry Winter Syle founded. He was active in many churches and gave sermons to the Deaf people. Most of these papers were about churches for the Deaf, like, St. Ann’s Church and All Soul’s Church. The organization series has papers related to Deaf organizations in America. The best known ones are the American Annals of the Deaf and Clerc Memorial Associations of different states. The conversation notes series contains many conversation notes that Rev. Henry Winter Syle kept after the conversation with someone. He kept the ones he used to communicate with his father.