Mainly correspondence, 1815-1839, pertaining to the history of Cincinnati and the Miami River region of Ohio, and notes and drafts for historical addresses and publications on that region.

At the beginning of the volume are inventories of Daniel Drake's historical manuscripts, which were compiled after his death and which list papers that had originally belonged to his brother Benjamin. Although a few letters were written by Daniel Drake, most were written by others primarily during the Cincinnati anniversary observance (1838).

Among the writers were Samuel Dick, A.H. Dunlevy, Isaac Dunn, Ezra Ferris, Luke Foster, Daniel and Mary Gano, Thomas Jessup, John P. Jones, Elam P. Langdon, Darius Lapham, Richard Henry Lee, James Lyon, Robert T. Lytle, John McLean, Robert Patterson, Rebecca Reeder, John Reily, Elijah Slack, and O.W. Spencer. An incomplete and undated manuscript electioneering handbill bears a pencil drawing of a uniformed bell ringer reading a proclamation. Only a few printed items are scattered through the volume: a handbill advertising a lottery to benefit Cincinnati University as authorized by an 1807 statute; a circular (1814) publicizing the Miami Bible Society, accompanied by a copy of its constitution and a blank form for subscriptions; and an article “Cincinnati in 1835” by Benjamin Drake from the Western Monthly Magazine (January 1836).