Benjamin Day served as an educator and principal in the Leavenworth, Kansas, school system for thirty one years before becoming a City Council member and the city's first African American mayor. The collection contains material relating to his service to the city, as well as his involvment in other community organizations.

The Minnis family papers are those of a longtime Kansas family. They focus on Marian N. (Freeman) Minnis and her son Frank B. Minnis Jr., who served for a number of years as a Leavenworth City Commissioner and, for a short time, as that city's mayor.