The collection contains Marianne Hunsaker D’Arcy’s autobiography, both in handwritten form, and typed. D’Arcy was among the first generation of Americans to settle in Oregon.

The Orange Gaylord diary is a typed copy of Gaylord's accounts of his travels to and from the west during the years 1850-1853.

W. Harry Hembree was a ship captain and master ship builder in Oregon. His family, and the Kellogg family, owned and built ships and created a freight transportation company in the Willamette Valley. The W. Harry Hembree Papers consist of the retelling of Hembree's grandfather's 1843 overland journey, a 1947 interview in which Hembree reminisces about his family and his life, and Hembree's 1912 log of the Althea voyage from Portland, Oregon to Alaska.

Joseph Nathan Teal (1858-1929) was an Oregon rancher, lawyer, investor, and civic leader who was an advocate of waterways development, and served as U.S. Shipping Commissioner from 1920-1921. The collection contains a manuscript of a series of reminiscences of ranch life during the 1850s through the 1870s, in eastern Oregon, that Teal wrote down for his family in 1921.

John Joseph Villair (1876- ) was an Oregon pioneer and resident of Josephine County. The collection consists of a typed transcription of Villair's reminiscences as told to John C. Kuhns (1887-1901).

George Miller West (1831-1912) was a pioneer and carpenter who travelled to Oregon and California to gold mine in 1853. Collection consists of one 49 paged reminiscence, typewritten and includes photographs. Photocopy is included.