The collection includes a minute book and some loose materials from Lodge No. 17 of Sarcoxie Township, Jefferson County, northeastern Kansas for the Independent Order of Good Templars. The lodge was organized on March 4, 1874, and minutes for each meeting typically indicate which officers were absent, provide financial receipts, and discuss lodge and committee business. This could include charges against members who had violated the organization's constitution. One of the main committees was the Committee for the Care of the Sick.

The lodge appears to have lapsed in 1875, no meeting minutes recorded after November 1874. Members reorganized the lodge in January 1876, and much of the discussion in 1876 appears to have centered around "clearance cards," or membership cards in the organization. Membership naturally included refraining from drinking alcohol. The minute book ends with the May 8, 1876 meeting; a few pages at the back of the volume were not used.

Loose materials include news clippings, lodge membership proposals on small slips of paper, membership rolls, rough notes for meeting minutes, etc. The Sarcoxie lodge included both men and women in its membership and appears to have met approximately once a week at the schoolhouse.