The papers consist largely of land, property, and goods transaction receipts and documents of each of the four generations of the family represented. Certificates, oaths, correspondence, deeds, and a diary are included in Joseph Dickson's papers, along with several sale documents for enslaved people from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Much of the land and goods, and many of the enslaved people were exchanged with neighbors and others in the area. Most of Joseph Dickson's documents are individually described in this inventory. The papers of John Dickson (1737-1809, brother of Joseph Dickson), Robert Dickson, Robert Renick Dickson and Henry Frazier Dickson, and Geraldine Dickson Burrow (1879-1943, daughter of Henry Frazier Dickson), are grouped by type of material (for example, financial accounts, correspondence, and land deeds). Within Robert Dickson's correspondence are a few references to the Civil War, including a letter from a Confederate tax collector demanding payment of his 1863 Confederate taxes. Other interesting documents include the transcript (1916) of the trial of Sallie Dickson (wife of Robert Renick Dickson) who was sued by Henry Frazier Dickson, for payment of rent due to him. The papers also include genealogy charts of the family.