The collection contains diary excerpts of Matthew Vassar, Jr. printed in the Poughkeepsie Eagle, covering the tumultuous years before the Civil War, during the war, and afterwards. Matthew Vassar details Poughkeepsie history and the countrywide events that influenced Poughkeepsie, during the almost 40 year period of 1841 through 1880. There are also small pamphlets from the 1930s, of Public Officers and Boards in Poughkeepsie and the rules of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Home Club and the Poughkeepsie Police Manual.