Materials relating to the career of Lester Jesse Cappon (September 18, 1900-August 24, 1981), historian and formerly the Archivist for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia, Director of the Institute of Early American History and Culture, and Senior Research Fellow at the Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois.

Professional papers (1909-1981) include primary source material, typescripts, notes, drafts of articles, critiques, maps, and historical journals. Topics researched cover the Southern iron industry, the journals and writings of Jared Sparks, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Howe, and early American maps [material used in the Atlas of Early American History, 1976].

Papers showing Cappon's activities with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Institute of early American History and Culture, the Society of American Archivists, the Archival Institute [associated with Radcliffe College], The Papers of John Marshall, the National Archives, the National Historical Publications Commission, the Newberry Library, the University of Virginia, and the College of William and Mary. Papers and articles showing Cappon's involvement with archival procedures and principles are also included.

Correspondence (1923-1982) includes individuals associated with professional organizations, other historians, such as Arthur M. Schlesinger, personal friends, and family members. Personal papers outline Cappon's affairs and interests. Cappon's diaries (1954-1981) are also included in the collection. (They were closed to the public until August 24, 2006.)

News clippings, magazines, maps, certificates, and photographs complete his papers.