Central to the collection are the diary (1859) and Civil War letters of Jonathan H. Purvis, a bachelor schoolteacher who wrote about the weather and farm life and who served with his brothers in the 46th Regiment Georgia Volunteers, Company B. Also included are deeds; a math copybook; Murrayville, Georgia, school records; tax receipts; John F. Garrett estate records; business papers; and Marzelia Garrett Purvis' pension application, all from the R. Hammond Purvis family in the Schley, Marion, and Taylor Counties areas of Georgia.