The large majority of the collection documents the real estate holdings and financial activities of Josiah DuBois during the early nineteenth century. The account books and loose receipts provide documentation of the management of the store located in the Jean Hasbrouck House on Huguenot Street by both DuBois and his father-in-law, Josiah Hasbrouck. Other financial activities covered include newspaper subscriptions, taxes, court fees and judgments, expenses concerning, advertising, livestock, transportation, and farm and construction work, and DuBois’ work as Overseer of the Poor.

Estate and legal papers such as deeds, mortgages, agreements, bonds, survey maps, and other papers relate to the DuBois family’s land holdings in Libertyville and elsewhere in New Paltz during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Documents dating prior to 1815 chiefly concern Josiah DuBois’s father and grandfather, both named Cornelius DuBois, and great-grandfather, Solomon DuBois, although other family members (including New Paltz founder, Louis DuBois) are also occasionally represented. Two of these documents are in Dutch. Of particular importance here are several court documents and estate inventories from 1816-1825 relating to the care of Josiah DuBois’ mentally unstable brother Cornelius Bruyn DuBois (1783-1825). Also of interest are the numerous wills and inventories of DuBois family members such as Cornelius DuBois, 1780-1781, Margaret DuBois, 1784, Cornelius DuBois Jr., 1803, and an undated late nineteenth-century inventory of a woman identified only as “Mrs. DuBois.”

The collection also includes daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, most of which are identified, of the DuBois family members and relatives from the Catlin, Elting, Hoysradt, and Van Wagner families.

The physical condition of the collection is generally fair, showing damage from tearing, fraying, folding, yellowing, and worn and detached bindings. Some documents are badly torn, with only fragments remaining. The handwriting tends to be clear and legible throughout the collection.