This collection contains the papers of Nathan L. and Sarah A. B. Lincoln Look, natives of New York and Massachusetts, respectively, who settled in Marion County, Virginia in the 1850s. The collection consists largely of correspondence and includes summaries and transcripts of the 61 letters within the collection.

The majority of the correspondence is written by Sarah A. B. Lincoln Look to her family. Her early letters (1844-1847), written from various locales in Massachusetts, concern her attempts to secure a teaching position, classes at Mt. Holyoke, and routine family matters. Included too is a description of Sarah Lincoln's 1846 trip to northern Virginia, with lengthy (and often unflattering) descriptions of its people and environs. Following her marriage and move to Virginia, Sarah Lincoln Look's letters center on the family's frequent moves during the subsequent decade, the daily activities of the household (particularly farming and her hat-making enterprise), her views on slavery and Southern culture, the weather, society and church activities.

Within the correspondence also are several letters written by Sarah's brother, Charles F. Lincoln, and her husband, Nathan L. Look. These letters focus more on the family's farm and its broom- and cheese-making enterprises. The correspondence also contains Civil War-era letters from Polly Loomis Look, Laura L. Look, and Olivia Look Taylor. The letters contain only brief mentions of war news but include passages relating to travel behind the lines and descriptions of conditions in southwestern Virginia.

Accompanying the original letters are a set of typed transcripts and the contents of a scrapbook, largely consisting of envelopes in which the original letters had once been housed. Each envelope bears a brief summary of the letter it once contained. Also included here are a few genealogical notes.

The collection also contains a few pieces of miscellanea, including newspaper clippings about James Monroe's Oak Hill estate (at which Sarah Lincoln lived for a short time), a 1930 Baltimore Sun article about Mahlon Loomis, a color advertising circular for Look & Lincoln wagons, an 1848 acrostic for Sarah A. B. Lincoln, and two 1847 deeds for land in Petersham, Massachusetts.