Most of the letters (about 100) were written to Mrs. Cook by Mr. Bodley during the first two decades of the 20th century. Both were interested in Clark and the correspondence pertains to their individual and cooperative efforts in collecting information on that subject. The Bodley letters are dated from June 2, 1906 to January 1, 1927. The last letter covers the mailing of a presentation copy of Mr. Bodley's book on Clark to Mrs. Cook.
Mrs. Cook regarded the publication of this book as a breach of agreement between the two and apparently sued Mr. Bodley. The collection contains a file of photostat copies of the Bodley letters apparently gathered as court exhibit material. Many of these have Mrs. Cook's manuscript notations regarding information pertinent to the suit.
The remainder of the letters (about 40) are generally responses to questions pertaining to Mrs. Cook's historical research and include among their writers George Rogers Clark descendants William Hancock and John O'Fallon Clark; historians R.G. Thwaites, Louise Phelps Kellogg, C.W. Alvord, R.T. Durrett, and R.C. Ballard Thruston; and author James Branch Cabell.
The George Rogers Clark research materials consist of 18 volumes. Fifteen of these are a part of three duplicate sets of material prepared at Mr. Bodley's expense. A statement prepared by Mr. Bodley in 1937 (or 1913?) lists as belonging to the set 11 items (of one or more volumes each) and a “General Index” of two volumes. (See letter: Mabel C. Weeks to Clifford Lord, February 14, 1957.) The 15 volumes mentioned above constitute the Index and first five items on Bodley's list. These volumes were sent to Mrs. Cook for her personal use. A second list by Mr. Bodley infers the identity of the volumes sent to Mrs. Cook.
