The accounts in this collection relate to Reuben Randlett's experiences in the 1856 sacking of Lawrence, Kansas; his activities as a spy among the raiders; the Battle of Black Jack; the dissolution of the Free State legislature in Topeka on July 4, 1856; and Randlett's captivity by William C. Quantrill in 1862. The collection also includes a photograph of Randlett.

This collection consists of letters and notes from Samuel F. Tappan sent to William E. Connelley regarding Tappan's involvement with and recollection of the territorial border wars in Kansas. The letters were written a half-century after the fact.