Correspondence, poetry, photographs, and clippings of Wilhelm Rapp. Correspondence includes letters to Illinois Staats-Zeitung editor Hermann Raster. Also included are personal documents belonging to Rapp and a diary written by relatives describing his wife Gesine's trip to Germany in 1877. Three scrapbooks compiled by Rapp's daughter Emilie consist of obituaries and eulogies from various sources, as well as other miscellaneous materials. Rapp's poetry was written prior to the German revolutionary movement of 1848, and is indicative of his thoughts at the time. A 50th anniversary edition of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung consists of seven sections covering German contributions to Chicago art, music, religion, history, and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

Materials are in German unless otherwise noted.