This collection contains papers of the Gardner family of Shawsville (Montgomery County), Virginia. The collection includes two letters home from John Sessler Gardner in Florida. Within Gardner's letters are lengthy tributes to his parents and the family dog. He also briefly mentions the orange crop, investment in local real estate, the 1890 election, and Florida tycoon Henry Flagler. Also within the collection is a set of Montgomery County property tax receipts for William Redman Gardner, a Shawsville High School grade report and 1937 commencement program, a lighthearted essay by William R. Gardner about end-of-year store inventories, and assorted ephemera.