Some of the topics covered in the papers include the 1848 U.S. Presidential Election, The Mexican-American War, slave uprisings in Hampton, Virginia, the education of women, benevolence societies, Sunday school, social comparisons between the north and south, the Know Nothing movement, and outbreaks of various diseases including cholera, yellow fever, dysentary, and small pox in Virginia in the 1840s and 1850s, as well as diseases common to young children and the prevalence of influenza and bilious fever. Folder includes 50 letters and 2 undated letter fragments.