This collection consists of a single four-year diary maintained by Marion Eaton Woodruff, a resident of Elgin (Kane County), Illinois, during the early 20th century.

The diary commences on September 4, 1923, with Woodruff departing Elgin for New York City, followed by a trans-Atlantic voyage. In brief entries, she describes daily activities with her daughter and other companions, as they travel through France, then through Italy and Switzerland before returning to France before departing for the United States the following August. During her travels, Woodruff names the restaurants, shows, movies, and sites that she visits and attends, including several trips to the Louvre. Her entries from home indicate a busy social life, and she mentions a number of activities, such as attending Boris Gudunov and seeing Sophie Tucker in a vaudeville performance. She attends a number of movies, providing a two- to three-word review of each. In addition to her daughters Helen M. Woodruff and Wilda Woodruff Compton, she mentions many other relatives, friends, and neighbors, and their interactions. In early 1926, she traveled to Wellesley College, and remained in the area for several weeks, sometimes traveling to Boston or New York, while her daughter Helen lectured at the college. She returned to Wellesley that April, then proceeded on another European trip in June, where she seems to have remained for approximately three months before returning to Elgin. (Because Woodruff sometimes made more than one entry for a single day, the chronology can be difficult to follow.)