The William E. Hoge Family Papers consist of 164 letters and 65 deeds, along with financial papers, postcards, and extensive genealogical research. The letters detail the lives of the Hoge family, specifically the children, from the 1830s through the 1880s. Several of the letters in the collection are written by Ollie Hoge, spanning from the time when she was a young girl enrolled in the Wytheville Female College to her later days as a wife and mother living in Richmond.

Prevalent in the Hoge collection through all decades is the frequency of sickness and death. Word of a death in the family was sent out by postcard; commonly followed by a long, lamenting letter describing the lives of those lost in a beautifully poetic fashion.

One of the most interesting parts to the collection is the letters written by the Hoge family during the time of the Civil War. The letters are from friends of the Hoge family letting them know they are seeking enlistment, and from both Confederate soldiers and Virginians who are terrified to see Union soldiers travelling through their land. One letter in the collection involves a vivid description from Caroline Meek Thomas describing Union soldiers who were camped in the Blacksburg area.

Also included in the Hoge collection is genealogical material comprised by Dorothy Bodell. Material includes photocopied pictures of several southwest Virginia families and family trees from the Hoge, Meek, and Thomas families. In addition to Bodell's work, transcriptions and summaries of selected letters are included.