Original manuscripts, 1761-1790. Selected by Draper from many of his acquisitions, most are arranged in chronological sequence by year. Only three writers are represented by more than one letter: George Rogers Clark, four letters, 1780-1781, discussing land surveys, Indian affairs, and his attempts to raise troops for an offensive expedition to Detroit; Governor Benjamin Harrison of Virginia, five letters, 1782-1783, mainly about problems with Clark's accounts and about Clark's plans for the defense of Kentucky; and, Walker Daniel, land agent for Clark and his officers, two letters, 1783, concerning Indian troubles and the movement for Kentucky statehood.

Authors of single letters include Jonathan Clark (1781), John Crittenden (1784), George Croghan (1779), Dudley Digges (1778), Lord Dunmore (1774), Henry Hamilton (1776), Josiah HarMarch (1785), William Heth (1788), Thomas Jefferson (1780), Guy Johnson (1772), Archibald Lochry (1781), George Morgan (1780), Thomas Scott (1781), Isaac Shelby (1783), and Levi Todd (1786). Recipients included Sir Guy Carleton (1776), William Croghan (1788), John Dickinson (1785), William Fleming (1778, 1780), William Harrod (1780), Isaac Hite (1781), Andrew Lewis (1774), Benjamin Logan (1783), Joseph Martin (1780, 1783), Robert Patterson (1786), James Ramsey (1770), and Joseph Reed (1781). Specific references to Clark appear in many of the letters, but several pieces refer to affairs which indirectly affected the outcome of Clark's plans and projects, such as relations and negotiations with the southern Indian tribes.

In addition to correspondence, there are other kinds of records. Daniel Smith's journal, August 1779 - July 1780, kept while he was a commissioner representing Virginia during the survey of the boundary between North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee is accompanied by Draper's analysis of its contents. Among other papers are: two pages of Robert Elliott's orderly book at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in January 1778; a list of French habitants supporting the Virginia troops in 1779; copies of Clark's accounts with Virginia for the period 1779-1784; Also included are a muster roll (1780) for Evan Shelby's company; a certificate (1782) concerning an oath taken by Isaac Shelby “for preventing the farther Importation of slaves”; a printed copy of the treaty at Fort McIntosh (January 21, 1781) for which Clark, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee were the United States commissioners. A petition (1790) by thirteen inhabitants of Clarksville seeking deeds to the land they occupied is filed under the year 1784, the date these citizens stated they had settled there. Many receipts and other miscellaneous business and legal documents are scattered through the volume; among their signers, in addition to Clark, were Daniel Boone, Richard Brashear, Andrew Heth, Benjamin Logan, Isaac Mason, John Montgomery, James Patten, Robert Patterson, William Pope, and Robert Todd. Two facsimiles of Patrick Henry's letter to Clark, dated January 2, 1778, are filed among the original manuscripts.