Authorship of the volume: the main hand has inscribed on first and last free endpapers: "John T. Greenwood, Lee's Summit, Mo., September the 28th 1873."

Inscribed in a different hand on last free endpaper: "John T. Greenwood, Caldwell, Gage County, Nebraska."

Inscribed in a child's hand on page 69: "Beatrice neb July 9 1895 I am going to school...Willie Greenwd."

The main hand wrote the Table of contents (in ink), pages 1-11 and receipts on pages 12-48. Additions in other hands include Hand B, receipts on pages 49-59; Hand C, receipts, puzzles, first aid on pages 60-68 and "Books of Library" on pages 77-80; Hand D, "Articles got of John Scibe" (financial accounts Nov-Jan) on pages 84-87.

Hand E, either Willie as he learned to write, or various illiterate hands: "I am going to school..." on page 69; "A man ded..." on page 68; "Over the pailing peeped little Tim..." [poem] on page 70. Hand F wrote recipes in green ink for oatmeal cookies and fudge candy on pages 71-72.

Also in the volume is the contents of a library: 58 schoolbooks, songbooks, histories, manuals, The Pacific Tourist, That Husband of Mine, Burns' Poems. Names mentioned in the financial accounts include goods from Klein's, medicine from Reisen's, cash to Dad, Whittimore, Gidding, Peck. Places mentioned in the volume include Lee's Summit, Jackson County, Missouri and Caldwell (on the road between Beatric and DeWitt) and Beatrice, Gage County, Nebraska.