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While the Adams Brothers Store Ledger covers only a brief period of the existence of this business (1898-1899), it documents the operations of a late 19th and early 20th Century mercantile store in north Florida. It is significant to researchers studying North Florida's economic history during this period.

Contains personal and business correspondence, documents, bills, receipts, etc., of Dr. Edward Bradford, general merchant and plantation owner. Collection also includes a letter of introduction of James E. Broome, Tallahassee, Fla., to Hon. Jacob Thompson, Washington City, and a long handwritten letter of Governor Bragg, Raleigh, N.C., and other papers show that Dr. Bradford was well-known and a prominent citizen in his time.

The Rondeau Boyd Laffitte General Merchandise Account Books are significant to Southern business history researchers because they document purchases of dry goods, foods, and agricultural produce at one of several general stores in Lloyd, Florida during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

The Scarborough Papers include correspondence pertaining to mercantile business, land plats and deeds, a journal of mercantile business and plantation records. These materials about Scarborough's business afford a clear picture of early Florida merchandising and farming and contain many names of citizens of West Florida and of South Georgia. There are printed materials such as Hazeltine's almanac, The delineator and Literary digest. The 1907 Christmas issue of The delineator contains a number of Christmas songs, recipes and any amount of "styles of the month." The newspapers in the collection include six issues of The Sun, a Tallahassee, Florida, newspaper. These issues contain articles about the proposed project of draining the Everglades, and tobacco growing in Leon County.

This collection consists of merchant account books and merchant inventory books from Tallahassee, Florida, dating 1843-1863. Several books list James M. Williams of Tallahassee, including his "cotton book," showing purchaser, seller, number of bales, shape, where bought, weights, prices, amount paid, expenses, commission, shipping marks and numbers, names of vessels and destination of vessels on which shipments were made. A newspaper clipping is glued to one of the blank pages at the front of this book. Another book is listed as William P. Slusser's account book.

The Van Brunt records contain 16 journals, ledgers, "cotton seed books," two tenant farmer agreement contracts, a typed letter by Mr. Clifton Paisley to Mr. N. Orwin Rush, dated August 17, 1969, and a seven-page typescript of Mr. Paisley's interview on July 5, 1969, with a daugher of Mr. Van Brunt, Mrs. Jack Gregory, of Quincy, Florida. The business records, besides reflecting the economic conditions of the era and the customary manner of conducting a merchandising and tenant farming business, has considerable genealogical value.

Papers of William P. Slusser including receipts, payment orders, store accounts, a newspaper advertisement of public sale, and sales at auction on account.