The items in the Personal Series include family letters, biographical sketches, photographs, diaries, notebooks, and albums. A substantial amount of the material reflects the early life of Gilman. A charming, autobiographical sketch entitled "A Patrim" describes her life in Baltimore after 1876 when Daniel C. Gilman was inaugurated president of The Johns Hopkins University. Travel diaries and scrapbooks record her earliest trips to Europe, 1883 and 1889.

Some correspondence is included in this series since the letters were written to Gilman when she was a child. Most of this personal correspondence was written by Louise Gilman Lane for special occasions such as birthdays and confirmation. This particular group of letter, 1872-1877, was originally grouped together and noted, "Letters from Best Friends."

A scrapbook kept by Gilman demonstrated her childhood enthusiasm for Sarah Coolidge, a writer of children's literature. Coolidge was the sister of Elisabeth Gilman's stepmother, Elizabeth Dwight (Woolsey) Gilman. The scrapbook contains a photograph of Coolidge and clippings of her published stories and poems.

One autograph album, 1878-1902, in this series was signed by many visitors to the Gilman home including W. M. Ramsay, James Cardinal Gibbons, Charles W. Eliot, James Russell Lowell, and Francis Child.

In 1935, Gilman contacted Dr. William H. Howell who shared his reminiscences of Daniel C. Gilman for a projected biography. A typescript of the reminiscences is included here, and Dr. Howell's holographic notes are included in the Correspondence Series.

Of particular interest in this series, is the scrapbook (1928- 11935) which documents Gilman's political career in Maryland. Her appearances and speeches were covered by most Maryland newspapers, and the scrapbook offers an overview of those issues important to the Socialist movement in the 1930s.

Other items which complete this collection are photographs from a Socialist delegation to Vienna in 1931, certificates and regulations related to YMCA service in France, and Gilman's diploma, 1921, from The Johns Hopkins University.