The collection contains correspondence, legal documents, and accounting receipts and records relating to the Bigler, Sessler, and John families who were connected to each other through marriage and resided predominantly in rural Southwest Virginia. The collection contains a varied array of documents including a math workbook from 1803, which belonged to Mark E. Sessler; a share cropping agreement between John Patterson and George Odewait from 1820; and a letter from Priscilla R. John to "Moll," which gives a very detailed description of revival and prayer meeting in Montgomery Co. in 1859. The documents in this collection provide insight into several facets of daily life in Southwest Virginia from the mid eighteenth century through the early twentieth century through the perspectives of members of the Bigler, Sessler, and John families.