The collection contains a letter by Henry Brooke to Editor Colliery Engineer about an article written by Otto C. Burkhart, Professor of Mining Engineering at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech), written in March 1893. Brooke also writes about telescopes used in surveying and mentions the inclusion of technical drawings, which are not included in the collection. There is also a New York watermark.

Also, included in the collection is an Announcement for the School of Mines at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. The announcement contains a program of study, list of faculty, cost of attendance, and pictures of mining laboratories in. There is no date on the announcement. However, due to the list of faculty and the addition of a fifth year to the program of study in 1910-11 school year, which this announcement only has four years, the date is estimated between 1908 and 1910.