While the greatest part of the papers relates to the second Henry Nourse (1857-1942), reflecting his interests as a soldier, prospector and sportsman, there is also much about other members of the Nourse family and about the Cloete, Christian, Law and Norton families, which were connected by marriage with the Nourses.

In addition to being of Nourse family interest, the papers also touch on the 1820 settler, the so-called Kaffir War, the discovery of diamonds and gold, the Zulu and South African Wars, and the history of horse-breeding and horse-racing in South Africa. (Details appear in the subject index).