The Browning Family papers consist of papers of Robert Lewright Browning (1803-1850), naval officer, his wife, Eleanor Hanlon Browning (1809-1857), and their sons, Robert Lewright Browning (1835-1860), marine officer, and Charles Henry Browning (1846-1926), genealogist. The material spans the years from 1824 to 1917 with the bulk falling between 1835 and 1855. Included are private journals, a letterbook, correspondence, biographical file, holograph notes, newspaper clippings, and printed matter.

In a journal kept on the Vincennes (sloop of war), the elder Browning wrote notes on the South Sea Islands and their people. In a second journal, kept by him on the Ohio (ship of the line) and Congress (frigate), there are descriptions of Mediterranean and South American countries, copies of letters written to his wife, copies of letters from the wardroom officers to James Kirke Paulding, Isaac Hull, and Joseph Smith, and watercolors of the Turkish people. Both journals have been amended, and in the second one obituaries of naval officers who had served on these particular ships have been added. In a journal kept by the younger Robert L. Browning, there is material relating to the United States Navy, Napoleon's campaigns, the bombardment of Odesa (1854), and the attack on San Juan de Uloa (1838). The journal also includes verses, copies of a few official letters, and many personal letters. Added to the journal are genealogical notes written by his brother, Charles Henry Browning.

In a letterbook of the elder Browning are letters written by Eleanor Hanlon Browning to her husband. The correspondence files contain a few orders to duty and official letters, but the majority of the items are letters from members of the family, naval officers, and civilian friends. Some of the correspondents are Richard Bache, Robert Buchanan, Caleb Cushing, Samuel Francis Du Pont, John S. Missroon, William Sinclair, Thomas D. Sumpter, and Alexander S. Wadsworth.