This collection consists of a small handwritten manual. It is bound in a single sheet of newspaper from New York that dates to 1921; the outer cover contains advertisements for an Arabian horse, insurance, and a "Young Ladies Academy" and the inside covers contain court notices. The manual cover's title is, "Samuel Hodgkins Recipts." In the inside covers, this name is written several times in a hand that looks the same as the one that penned the manual's contents.

The manual's contents include recipes for illness remedies as well as those for household goods: Illness remedies for humans include those for sore eyes, dysentery, itching, feet corn, jaundice, and rheumatism. One Indian cure for "fever and ague" instructs how to boil various types of bark into a tea. For horse illnesses, home cures for such ailments as ringbone, blind staggers, strains, and yellow water are given. Household good recipes listed in this manual include those for making green paint, wood stain, and cherry varnish.