The collection almost entirely contains handwritten notes for speeches, talks and addresses. Dr Mary McLarty was a Transvaal Provincial Councillor and educationist, and the speeches are prepared in that capacity. Apart from politics, she was vastly interested in education, churches, Hospitals and nursing, girl guides, the role of women and adolescents, race relations and literary subjects, plus a range of notes on various places of the world.
Hon. Thesis by Catherine Higgs, entitled "The political thought and career of Edgar H. Brookes", submitted to the Department of History, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada, 1984.
Arthur Aaron Boss (1861-1955) was a soldier and stockbroker. His diary, dated 22 February - 29 June 1879, relates to the campaign against Chief Morosi, the taking of the mountain and death of the Chief which resulted in the decline of the Baphuti tribe. It is accompanied by a plan of the mountain, a typscript of the diary by Dr P.H. Butterfield (30 pages) and an article on the campaign in The Star, 29 June 1929. The original can be found in the Johannesburg Public Library.