In 1978 Charles L. Sachs, an independent consultant, was hired to inventory the collection while still in the possession of the family. Mr. Sachs produced handwritten inventories of the papers. The historical society received the collection in 1990 from the family.
The collection was processed in 1997 and 1998 and a finding aid was created. That finding aid has been updated and can be found by searching “Melville Family Papers” at https://www.empireadc.org/