The bulk of the collection consists of the papers of E. Mowbray Tate, a Presbyterian minister and academic originally from Portland, Oregon. The papers cover Tate's education and early career, his time as a missionary in Thailand (sometimes referred to as Siam in the collection), and his career as a professor and administrator at Columbia University, Lafayette College, Hanover College, and Wake Forest University. The collection also includes Tate's correspondence and writings from throughout his life. Other people whose papers are represented in this collection are: Tate's mother, Elizabeth R. Tate; his wife, Josephine Louise Tate; his grandmother, Margaret Tate; his daughter, Mary Carolyn Tate; and his father, Robert H. Tate.