Descriptions of farm life in Tazewell County, Illinois, including discussions of routine farm activities, farming expenses and property valuations, illnesses and medicinal cures, family births and deaths, local events, and weather conditions. Also trip accounts by Roberts and his wives, descriptions of the technical aspects of making lithographic plates and miscellaneous sketches of Robert's home and towns he visited in Illinois.

A journal kept by Mary Sackett when she and her family emigrated from New York state to Laona, Winnebago County, Illinois, 1841-1842, three numbers of a manuscript pioneer newspaper with original work done by members of an Illinois reading circle in 1849, a recipe for taffy, some penmanship exercises and two colored drawings. Also, photocopies of genealogical material relating to the Sackett family collected in 1945.