Correspondence, land records, and other material pertaining to the family, agricultural, business, and other affairs of the Bloyd-Combs-Corum-Fallin-McMurtry-Tigard families of Washington County, Arkansas; Clay County, Missouri; and Williamson County, Texas.

Two lengthy letters dated from Oregon Territory in 1852 and 1857 recount the experiences of the Tigard family and other Arkansas emigrants en route to Oregon; depict the hardships and sufferings endured en route; describe the land, land prices, and economic conditions in the Territory; and discuss political affairs there, especially as regards congressional elections, the framing and adoption of a state constitution, the growing sectional crisis in the nation and the question of introducing slavery in the new state.