This collection contains 16 diaries kept by members of the Munger family from New Haven, Connecticut and Portland, Oregon. The collection contains information about the social, religious, cultural, and intellectual lives of late 19^th- and early 20^th-century women, the daily rhythms of their domestic lives and family relations. Twelve of the diaries were kept by Rosanna ("Rose" or Rosa") May Munger from 1886-1945, excluding years 1888 to 1899 and 1910 to 1914. Rose’s diaries generally include one entry per day. Rose apparently suffered from a spinal disease, never married, and mostly lived with her family in New Haven. Some of the topics discussed in her diaries include taking trips to Europe and across the United States with her family, acting as secretary to her father, the Rev. Theodore Thornton Munger (1830-1910), a Congregational minister and an advocate of the "New Theology," working at an office, volunteering for several social and religious organizations, as well as other aspects of her daily life. Among the acquaintances Rose most frequently mentions are brother Thornton Taft Munger (1883-1975), sister Eleanor Duncan Munger (b. 1868), sister Mary Munger, nicknamed Polly (b. 1877), sister-in-law Mary Erskine Heilman Munger (1883-1967), step-mother Harriet King Osgood (1857-1925), friend Bessie Thompson, and Allie and George Sherman.

Also included in the collection are three diaries kept by Rose's sister-in-law, Mary Erskine Heilman Munger, the wife of Thornton T. Munger, a research scientist for the U.S. Forest Service in Portland, Oregon. The diaries cover the years 1921-1935 and are five-year diaries containing entries for each day of the year. In her diaries, Mary talks about going to dinners and dances, playing card games, doing house work, volunteering for a variety of social organizations, as well as about her husband and children’s daily lives.

The final diary was kept by Rose's mother, Elizabeth K. Duncan Munger, for the year 1882 and includes mentions of her family life, housework, daily weather, and a family trip to Europe, more specifically to England, Scotland, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and France.