The collection contains the genealogical research files of Lorne C. Payne. Mr. Payne's research was especially focused on the surnames Bancroft, Barber, Beardsley, Brown, Cameron, Dunbar, Gillett, Griswold, Markham, Negus, Nelson, Payne, Searles, Shaw, Smith, and Treat. Mr. Payne's research was conducted between 1984 and 2003.

Genealogical information in this collection covers people in the seventeenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century in the United States, Canada, and England. There is voluminous correspondence with relatives, librarians, archivists and other genealogists arranged generally by date and including copies from source publications. Several folders contain source data by surnames and locations. U.S. Census indexes and copies of records occupy six folders.

Lorne Cameron Payne was born December 7, 1919, in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, the son of Lorne (1885-1952) and Eva Louisa Shaw Payne (1897-1953). He had a career in the U.S. Air Force and then worked as a computer programmer for the pharmaceutical company Wyeth-Ayers in Rouses Point, New York. He lived for a number of years in Plattsburgh, New York, home of an air base. Sometime between 1995 and 1998 he retired to Niskayuna, New York, and died there on September 6, 2005.