The collection includes much family correspondence. The collection contains many promissory notes and receipts. Two family account books are included. Letters from Nathaniel Chaffee in Mississippi, 1856-1861, comment on the institution of slavery and on the secession of Mississippi from the Union. He also describes the financial rewards of setting up his new medical practice.

The collection also includes property tax receipts from Pittsford (Vt.) and Burlington (Colo.), a printed program from the Methodist Church in Pittsford, and medical bills and receipts.

The family members represented in this collection are descendants of Simeon Chaffee (1772-1859) of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and Rutland, Vermont. Warren Chaffee (1814-1894), son of Simeon, married in 1843 Chloe Briggs Pinney (1818-1872) of Plymouth, Vermont. Later he married, in 1877, Fannie Taylor of Pittsfield, and in 1881 Lucinda Furman. Eugene Warren Chaffee (Nov. 8, 1848-?) was the son of Warren and Chloe Chaffee. Eugene married Olive M. Everett in 1872 and later married Maggie McGee. Nathaniel Chaffee (dates unknown) was also the son of Warren Chaffee.