The Frowe and Lathrop families collection contains correspondence, ephemera, documents, maps, travel material, and other material from several generations of the ancestors and descendants of Mary Phillips Miller.

The correspondence between family members is extensive and generally contains information about day-to-day activities, personal schedules, planning for events, settling of estates, business, and some current events.

Many of the Millers' ancestors and relatives served in the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. The collection contains many of their war-time diaries, notes, documents, and correspondence.

Many of the family members were from Kansas and include correspondence and photographs of the towns of Blue Rapids, Baxter Springs, Merriam, Ellsworth, Irving, Lawrence, and other communities. Some of the material is also from Missouri, California, Michigan, and more.

Mary Phillips Miller and her family and relatives have travelled extensively in the United States and in other countries and geographical regions. Many documents, ephemera, and photographs in this collection represent those travels.

Photographic images of the families span from daguerreotypes and tintypes, to studio portraits and snapshots, to slides and digital images. These photographs have generally been separated from textual material and can be found at the call numbers RH MS-P 1510, RH MS-P 1510(f), and RH MS-P 1510(ff).

Oversize materials have also been generally stored separately and can be found at RH MS Q379, RH MS Q470, RH MS R468, and RH MS R469. Audiovisual material can be found at KC AV 91.

Notes made by Mary Phillips Miller, or from her mother Eva Lathrop Phillips often accompanied groupings of papers, correspondence, or photographs. The notes have been kept with the material.

Correspondence and photographs of friends and neighbors is also included.

The collection was donated to Kenneth Spencer Research Library over a long period of time and was therefore processed at different times and sometimes in different ways.