Papers include transcripts of correspondence of the Phipps family, 1856-1918. Life as a soldier during the Civil War is presented as well as the history of the Phipps family.

Descendants of Joseph Phipps, Sr. (b. ca. 1730) whose family settled in Orange and Guilford Counties, North Carolina. The family can be traced back to Somersetshire and Tankersley, Yorkshire. Descendants later settled in Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, and California.

Some names included: Baker, Byard, Christensen, Cox, Crow, Davenport, Elkins, Fogle, Fulton, Gardner, Harless, Hays, Hokanson, Javins, Kershaw, Killen, Lipps, Moser, Nielson, Osborne, Phipps, Reeves, Schmitt, Tolliver, Totten, Walton, Welchman, Wermelskirchen.