The papers include: valedictory address by Robert Louis Stevenson to the Speculative Society, 1873; drawing of David Masson, drawn by William Hole; illustrations of the Men's Union building, and the Old Quad; notes on lectures of Henry Calderwood taken by Dickson; notes on Professor Masson's lectures, 1880; two letters to Dickson from John Ruskin, Honorary President of the Associated Societies of the University of Edinburgh, 1883; two letters and copy letters to Dickson from Robert Browning, Honorary President of the Associated Societies of the University of Edinburgh, 1885-1887; letter to Dickson from S.R. Crockett, Penicuik, 1895; bibliography compiled by Dickson, 1880-1934; and, two photographs of Dickson.