Contains letters mainly to Graham Taylor from friends, parishioners, social workers, committee members, unions, editors, officials, politicians, and other associates. Some prominent correspondents include Jane Addams, Edward Price Bell, Charles R. Crane, Clarence Darrow, Charles H. Dennis, Samuel J. Duncan-Clark, Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, Henry Ford, John Palmer Gavit, William Rainey Harper, Julia C. Lathrop, Victor F. Lawson, members of the McCormick family (mostly Katharine D. [Mrs. Stanley] McCormick), Frank McCulloch, John McCutcheon, Ben Reitman, Raymond and Margaret Robins, Edward L. Ryerson, and associates from the Chicago Theological Seminary, Chicago Commons, the Survey, and the University of Chicago. Some correspondence reflects Taylor's activities at his previous parishes in Hopewell, New York (1873-1880) and Hartford, Connecticut (1880-1892). Much of the correspondence concerns the daily workings and fundraising of the Chicago Commons as well as Taylor's many social reform projects. A number of letters are from prisoners seeking consolation or intervention from Taylor. Other letters, particularly those from Sophonisba P. Breckenridge, address the incorporation of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy into the University of Chicago against Taylor's wishes. Also included are letters of condolence from friends and associates upon the death of Taylor's first wife, Leah Demarest Taylor, 1918.

See also correspondence in Series 7 (Chicago Commons), Series 8 (Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy), and Series 9 (Chicago Theological Seminary).

For more correspondence with Raymond Robins, see the Raymond Robins Papers at the Wisconsin State Historical Society Archives.