The collection consists of a friendship book collected and maintained by Aileen B. Cowardin. The book includes leaf and plant samples, most of which are labeled as to the location where they were found. Several pages contain items of Civil War and/or local history interest:

• The first few pages contain unsent Confederate 3-cent blue stamps and a City of Richmond 10-cent voucher
• Page 11 contains is a visiting card of J. F. Damman dated 1877 with part of a leaf attached to a picture stating that it came from the tomb of Stonewall Jackson
• Page 15 includes a fragment of cedar with a notation that is came from Jackson's grave, including poetry
• Page 29 contains samples from Staunton, Virginia, and White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, West Virginia
• Page 57 contains a faded, but genuine signature of Gen. Robert E. Lee pasted to the page