The Papers consist primarily of the business correspondence of Edwin H. Van Ostrand dating from 1899 to 1901, the years in Neenah; and from 1909 to 1911, part of the years in Antigo. The correspondence and business papers deal with the purchase and sale of logs and timber lands in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Idaho. The major correspondents include the Craig Mountain Lumber Co., Winchester, Idaho; E. Norem & Co., Bryant, Wis.; Patten Paper Co., Appleton, Wis.; A. M. Fox, Stevens Point, Wis.; Badger Lumber, Tigerton, Wis.; and J.R. Davis Lumber Co., Phillips, Wis.
The collection also contains family correspondence, chiefly the letters of Mattie Culver Van Ostrand, Edwin H. Van Ostrand's wife, and those of his sister, Hattie. These are concerned with family matters. There are also letters from his son Dexter, and four letters, 1851-1865, from C. B. Culver, U.S. Navy. The rest of the collection includes genealogical records of the Chapman, Culver, and Van Ostrand families; miscellaneous indentures, agreements, and deeds, 1738, 1805, 1829-1900; an autobiography written by Mrs. Mattie Van Ostrand; and two personal diaries by Mrs. Van Ostrand's grandfather, William L. Culver, one written in Connecticut in 1881 and the other in Portage, Wisconsin, in 1884.
