The collection consists of 5 holographic receipts signed by J. Dyson, Fulton Factory, between 1838 and 1846. The receipts list prices for the cost of cotton bales and yarn.

John McGill was a lawyer in Urbana, Virginia (in Middlesex County), and flourished between 1827 and 1848. The collection consists of incoming letters, financial records, records of the William Shepherd estate, and J. Hopkins Brothers and Company records all ranging in date from 1827 to 1849. The bulk of the incoming letters are from Baltimore merchants.

The Merryman-Crane family papers document the nineteenth century life of two allied families, one centered in Richmond, Virginia, and the other in Baltimore County, Maryland. The Merryman family papers consist of land deeds, legal documents, and correspondence spanning 1742-1908 The Crane Family papers consist of correspondence, poetry, prose, and financial documents. The material spans 1821-1908 but mainly dates from 1850-1890.