Extensive reminiscences related by Bedinger to Draper in 1843, followed by an assortment of other records: Benjamin Drake's notes taken during an earlier interview in 1839; a few original letters, 1789-1847; copies of correspondence in the 1780s and 1790s concerning Bedinger's preemption claim to land in Madison County, Kentucky; legal records, 1815-1817, from a law suit involving William Martin and this land claim; two broadsides, 1829, one of which stated Bedinger's views on internal improvements, the tariff, and slavery, during an unsuccessful campaign for his election to Congress; and many drafts dated in the 1830s and 1840s of his applications for a pension for his Revolutionary War services.

Draper's interviews emphasized Bedinger's life in Boonesborough, his participation in Bowman's campaign, and his surveying trips in the Green River country in 1784 and 1785. Bedinger's correspondents included his brother Henry, Edward Carrington, Andrew S. Hughs, Walker Bead, and Michael Rudolph (copies only, for Draper filed the two originals in 8 RR). Deponents in the land claim suit frequently interpolated historical recollections in their testimony; making such statements were James Berry, William Briscoe, Green Clay, John Crooks, Samuel Estill, Peter Fisher, John Gass, Samuel Gilbert, Thomas Lamb, David Lyntch, Ralph Morgan, Joseph and Nicholas Proctor, Laurance Thompson, Oswell and Thomas Townsend, Thomas Warren, Evan Watson, Aquilla White, and John Williams. Depositions supporting Bedinger's pension applications were made by Jesse Hodges, Robert Pogue, and John Rogers.