Correspondence

The collection mostly consists of Atkinson's incoming and outgoing correspondence. Most of the letters are professional in nature, and concern the administration of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University. Several of the letters from the 1850s concern the hiring of Pacific's first president, Sidney Harper Marsh. A group of letters from the mid-1870s relate to divisions over whether Pacific should align itself more closely with the Congregationalist Church, as well as the search for a new president to replace Sidney Harper Marsh. Another group of letters dating from 1880-1885 concern the Forest Grove Indian Industrial Training School, which was an off-reservation boarding school for Native American children. The letters reflect the work that Atkinson did to convince the Department of the Interior to keep the school in Forest Grove, and provide his assessment of its accomplishments. The original letters are accompanied by typed transcripts created by Pacific University students in 2002.

The collection also includes several original publications by Atkinson, including a sermon, a treatise on railroad routes in the Northwest, and "Reminiscences" about Reverend Elkanah Walker, who was a fellow missionary, educator and friend. A file of material about Atkinson is present at the end of the collection.