The ledger and some loose documents include various advertisements, handwritten notes, cancelled checks, letters, legal documents, and account records (possibly from a day book), dated 1853-1917, and undated. The 616-page ledger documents the business activity of the Taylor and Moore General Store of Valle Crucis, North Carolina, primarily during the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, with some early twentieth-century notations as well. Entries indicate payments were made in cash or by bartering goods. Products sold include dry goods, groceries, shoes, and hardware.

This letter from Susan Eller to Luke and Sarah Eller discusses farming and the impact of Reconstruction on Susan. Susan mentions the price of crops and that some vendors of farm animals are not selling in her area anymore because there is an abundance of animals such as mules and horses. Susan also says that the people in her area of Tennessee are confused as to the impact that the proposed Civil Rights Act (passed in 1875) will have on the African-American community, and that many African Americans are being murdered and lynched in her area.