The material was collected and preserved by Barbara "Babs" Johnson (Wallace), granddaughter of Merl and Jean Wallace. The material was originally saved in two large blue binders and comprises of original Wallace family documents. There are legal documents (including a marriage certificate), photos, maps, and clippings, but the bulk of the content is correspondence from Merl to Jean, covering much of the time that Merl Wallace lived on Cabin Creek and Big Creek. Envelopes if present are inlcuded after each letter. Letters from Jean to Merl were not included and presumed to have been lost. Also included is a short autobiography written by Jean later in life.

The original order of the contents was preserved, and the series numbers denote the original binders.