Draper correspondence, 1852-1883, on Indians, particularly the Wyandot and the Oneida. A few interviews, notes, and clippings accompany the letters. Wyandot material comprises one-third of the volume and consists mainly of correspondence with William Walker (d. 1874) and Peter D. Clarke, both of Wyandot descent. The participation of the Wyandot and other northern tribes in the Revolution and the War of 1812 is the central topic, but dozens of individual names and events are mentioned, only a few of which are noted here specifically. In Walker's letters, 1852-1873, and interviews are numerous references to Simon Girty and his descendants; a Wyandot account of William Crawford's execution in 1782 and the tribal negotiations which preceded it; biographical sketches of Abram Kuhn and of Walker's parents William Walker, Sr. (circa 1763-1824) and Catherine Rankin Walker (1771-1845); information on Wyandot clan organization, government, and customs; and brief personal recollections of Tecumseh. Clarke's letters pertain particularly to the content of his book, Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandotts, and Sketches of Other Indian Tribes of North America (Toronto, 1870). In 1873 both Clarke and Walker discussed the organization of Oklahoma Territory, with Walker commenting on the Indian distrust of government promises and treaties and expressing his evaluations of James R. Doolittle and James Harlan as successive chairmen of the Senate committee to investigate Indian affairs. In addition to Wyandot history, Clarke's letters contain ridicule of Eleazer Williams's claim to be the “lost Dauphin,” commentary on the mixture of native Americans with members of the white and black races, and discussion of the ruinous effects of whiskey on Indians.

Nearly two-thirds of the volume is composed of correspondence, interviews, and notes on the Oneida, most of which Draper gathered from residents of the reservation in Wisconsin. These papers deal primarily with participation in the Revolution in New York, their allegiance to the Americans, and biographical data on New York Indian leaders in that era: Joseph Brant, Johannes Crine, Captain John Deserontyou, members of the Doxtator family, Good Peter, Paul Powless, and Skenando. Letters of two ministers, Methodist S.W. Ford and Episcopalian A.E. Goodnough, not only describe the social and economic condition of the Oneida and their mission churches and schools in Wisconsin in the late 1870s, but also contain brief autobiographical sketches of the two clergymen. A synopsis of a census of the Oneida tribe taken in October 1877, gives statistics on population, livestock, and agricultural production.

The final few pages of this volume contain clippings and notes related to the Tuscarora and Seneca nations. Included are articles on James Cusick, Farmer's Brother, and the captivity of Mary Jemison among the Seneca.