Discussion of family affairs, land conditions, and the weather. Letters on army life during the Mexican War and the Civil War. Letters include descriptions of battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Vicksburg. Scrapbook contains clippings from Burt's Progressive Age, Coshocton, Ohio, clippings of his letters regarding the Mexican and Civil Wars, and other miscellaneous clippings. Letters concern the Caldwell family of Green County, Kentucky, and their relatives, the Steele family of Callaway County, Missouri.
Letters discuss education, politics, religion, and local and personal news.
Mention of Bonne Femme Academy, Boone County, Missouri. Bible class organized by Mary B. Jenkins Hardin, including list of members. Fry wrote an article on the orphans which appeared in the December 1974 issue of American Heritage . Accounts, bills, advertisements, circulars, publications. Diary describing conversion, baptism, and life as a preacher.