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This letter book contains personal letters that John Dillon of Baltimore, Maryland, and Zanesville, Ohio, wrote from 1808-1811 and 1857-1858, as well as newspaper clippings collected during the Civil War. The early letters, written to Dillon's father Moses, concern the Embargo Act of 1807 and Baltimore commerce. Later letters, written to relatives in Pennsylvania, relate to the history and genealogy of the Griffith family, relatives of Dillon's mother, Hannah.

This letter book contains around 105 pages of personal letters that John Dillon of Baltimore, Maryland, and Zanesville, Ohio, wrote from 1808-1811 and 1857-1858, as well as 12 pages of newspaper clippings collected during the Civil War.

The earliest letters (May 30, 1808-March 7, 1811) are almost all addressed to Dillon's father, Moses Dillon of Zanesville, Ohio, and pertain to both personal and business matters. John Dillon offered advice regarding his father's attempt to establish an iron foundry along the Licking River and discussed his own finances, especially those related to the Baltimore shipping industry. Along with reporting personal news, Dillon occasionally commented on political affairs such as the Napoleonic Wars (August 24, 1808) and trade relations between the United States and Great Britain, particularly in relation to the Embargo Act of 1807. Some later letters in this early group concern acquaintances' legal troubles, and one 4-page letter describes banking practices (January 17, 1811).

The second group of letters (January 14, 1857-February 24, 1858) is addressed to numerous members of the Griffith family, based in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. John Dillon shared and solicited information about the Griffith family genealogy, particularly related to his grandfather, Isaac Griffin, and Griffin's marriage and emigration from Wales. Dillon's letters also refer to a possible family inheritance in Wales belonging to descendants of the Griffith family. These letters are followed by an undated cure for a cancer of the lip that utilizes red oak bark, mutton tallow, and rosin, among other ingredients; the cure was originally given to Moses Dillon and later recorded by John Dillon.

The remaining pages have pasted-in newspaper clippings. Many clippings are dated during the Civil War and pertain to soldiers from the Zanesville area and from various Ohio regiments. Recipes, cures, marriage and death announcements, and poems are also present. One clipping (December 12, 1862) is an obituary describing the pneumonia-related death of Sergeant J[ohn] Morton Dillon (b. 1841).

This collection is made up of the incoming and outgoing World War II-era correspondence of John T. McHale, Jr., of Washington, D.C., and his wife, Betty Jane Henery of Zanesville, Ohio. John wrote to Betty while serving in the United States Army Air Forces, and the couple received letters from family members, servicemen, and Betty's female acquaintances.

This collection is made up of the incoming and outgoing World War II-era correspondence of John T. McHale, Jr., of Washington, D.C., and his wife, Betty Jane Henery of Zanesville, Ohio. John wrote around 220 letters to Betty while serving in the United States Army Air Forces, and Betty wrote about 50 letters to John about her experiences while he was away. The couple also received letters from family members, servicemen, and Betty's female acquaintances.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of Correspondence, particularly the letters that John T. and Betty McHale exchanged during the war. Their letters document several aspects of their relationship, including the effects of lengthy periods of separation. In his early letters (April 1943-September 1943), John T. McHale commented on aspects of military life and training at various stations in the United States, and Betty initially wrote about her experiences in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she was a member of an orchestra. From October 1944-October 1945, McHale wrote from Hawaii, New Guinea, and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), where he was a pilot with the 7th Combat Cargo Squadron, Fifth Air Force. He mentioned the "Tokyo Rose" radio broadcasts and frequent bombing raids by Japanese planes. In March 1945, his squadron celebrated the birth of his son. By the summer of 1945, McHale was stationed in the Philippines, where he noticed the destructive effects of the war on Manila, and he was later based in Okinawa and at the Yokota Army Airfield near Tokyo. In October 1945, he anticipated his return to the United States.

John T. and Betty McHale received letters from many correspondents during the war, particularly from their parents and from Betty's female friends from her time in Albuquerque. Marvel Goodman and others commented on their lives after their orchestra dispersed in 1943. Infrequent postwar letters from acquaintances are dated as late as 1948, and Andrew H. Henery sent a birth announcement for his son in 1952.

Receipts and Ephemera include greeting cards, a church program, birth announcements for John T. McHale III, receipts, a financial voucher, and a list of postwar addresses for a group of military officers.