The Fatherless Children of France collection consists of manuscripts, autographs, artwork, photographs, and other contributions assembled to raise funds for French children orphaned during World War I. Organized by Anna O’Neill Johnson of the Boston Committee, the materials were created by prominent individuals and collected as Their Book for a planned charitable auction. After the auction was averted, Johnson retained the collection until donating it to the College of the Holy Cross in 1953.

Ralph Albert Blakelock (1847–1919) was a largely self-taught American landscape painter whose work was shaped by travels in the American West and later gained recognition despite his struggles with mental illness and institutionalization. This collection contains five small signed ink sketches of mountains, most annotated with locations, with numbered versos of uncertain origin.