Carl E. Harrison, married to Daisy L. Harrison, was a civil engineer. He divided his time between Lawrence, Kansas and Dallas, Texas, and by 1930 appeared to be living in Dallas.

Simeon Montgomery (S. M.) Thorp was born in 1830 or 1831 in New York and moved to Kansas in 1860 to teach in the Lawrence schools. He briefly served as State Superintendent of Public Instruction soon after Kansas became a state and was then elected to the State Senate. He died in Quantrill's August 1863 raid on Lawrence.

Diary entries for both men are generally brief and describe daily activities, sometimes including financial record-keeping by the diary owner. Some years are more complete than others; sometimes there are items interlaid in a volume.