The collection is chiefly made up of correspondence written by various members of the Hurlbert and Chenowith families to Andrew J. Hurlbert, his wife Mary Chenowith Hurlbert, and their daughter Ida May Hurlbert. The Hurlbert family lived in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire; their letters deal with family matters and their day-to-day activities. The Chenowith family lived throughout the American southwest including Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Texas; their letters deal with farm life, descriptions of the Southwest, financial problems, family matters, fears of Indian attacks, the movements of Victorio and the MimbrenĚo Indians, murders in town, mining in New Mexico, and a shoot-out over a ranch property where a bullet grazed the head of Rachel Chenowith (Mary Hurlbert's mother).
