The scrapbook contains mostly news clippings of articles that were written by William Harper and published in his local newspapers in Michigan, Maine, and Georgia, as well as in periodicals regarding education. Topics include politics, Germany, religion, education, personal announcements, Sunday school, Wade's Graduating Systems (1880), and temperance. Other clippings regard household hints and treating diseases.

A note on page 73 states that clippings to the end of the scrapbook were mounted by Roland Harper in 1940; the clippings are dated 1878-1899 and mostly are regarding William Harper.