This collection contains papers of Julia Gardiner Tyler, wife of President John Tyler, and some of her descendants, mostly through daughter Pearl Tyler Ellis. Though small, the collection is comprised of a wide array of items, including correspondence, printed material, photographs and ephemera. Among the papers relating directly to the John and Julia Tyler family is an 1844 letter to President Tyler from an anonymous woman, offering congratulations on his recent marriage. Also included are several letters addressed to Julia Tyler, among which is a war-time letter from a soldier named Douthat, a Confederate prisoner-of-war at Point Lookout, Maryland. Also included are a letter from nephew John C. Tyler regarding timber interests; a letter from son John Alexander Tyler, written from Baden, Germany; a letter from William A. Galbraith, enclosing tickets to the 1868 National Democratic Convention; two letters from Pearl Tyler Ellis (including an 1885 letter written from Shawsville, Virginia); and an undated letter from F. W. Thomas, addressed to "Lady Presidentiss" and regarding invitations to be issued to the Beeckmans and Colegates for an unidentified event. Also among the Tyler correspondence is a letter from David G. Tyler (oldest child of John and Julia Gardiner Tyler) to Harry Beeckman and accompanied by an envelope addressed to Mrs. David Gardiner and free-franked by John Tyler. Included also is an autograph book used by Julia Tyler at the 1868 Democratic National Convention (containing the autographs of delegates from Virginia, North Carolina, and Arkansas, and accompanied by a delegate ribbon); an invitation to the 1848 National [Washington's] Birth-night Ball; and a published memorial to Mary L'Hommedieu Gardiner Horsford (including studio portrait). The Tyler-related papers also contain several empty envelopes, among which are three envelopes free-franked by Tyler and two black-edged mourning envelopes addressed to Tyler as president.

Among the items in the collection related to the Ellis family are photographs of Pearl Tyler Ellis (including one with husband William Munford Ellis), several family-related newspaper clippings, and a lock of hair from Carlton Munford (brother of Elvira Munford Ellis Peyton, William Munford Ellis's mother). A property map of the Shawsville, Virginia area is included in an oversize folder.

From the Marye family, the collection contains several family-related newspapers clippings, a letter from W. Carter Wormeley to Bob Marye, a report on the Works Progress Administration's Engineering and Construction Division by Ambrose M. Marye, two photographs of scenes on the Virginia Tech campus, and a copy of an 1862 letter from Nannie E. Kent to Mrs. James McGavock Kent. Also included here are two 20th-century studio portraits of Major William Gordon Anderson, who served with the 54th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War and was the brother of Nancy Anderson Marye. Accompanying the portraits is Anderson's 1865 military parole.