This collection contains the diaries of Elva Curl Wilson, a young woman living in Hampton, Virginia. The diaries, six in number, span the years 1929 to 1935, excluding 1933. Wilson maintained a very active social life during her late teens and early twenties, and makes mention on a nearly daily basis of dates with various men, dances, parties, club meetings, movies, picnics, church meetings, shopping and travel. Less frequently, Wilson describes her days at home, engaged in making candy or listening to the radio. The early diary entries are very short, providing few details, but become somewhat more lengthy and reflective over time. A great deal of Wilson's writing is devoted to social and romantic interactions with various men, culminating in her engagement to James C. Richardson, soon to be a Methodist minister. (A number of the diary entries focus on Wilson's reluctance to marry a person with religious views different from her own.) The diary also makes many references to people, events, businesses and organizations in the Hampton area. Wilson visits Buckroe, Grandview, Fox Hill, and Newport News often and also discusses such contemporary activities as seeing Charles Lindbergh at Langley field and wearing blackface for an "Amos and Andy Wedding" show at church. Interestingly, the financial difficulties of the Great Depression seem to have had little direct impact on Wilson's life; a brief scan of the diaries found no significant references to political or economic issues of the day.

The diary is accompanied by Wilson's 1926 Hampton High School autograph book, containing signatures, well wishes, sentiments and verse, such as this piece signed by Elizabeth Jett: "When you are married / And your husband is cross / Pick up the broom / And say you are the boss."