The collection includes a series of letters written by Emmett B.A, from Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina, to Lydia Rhodes Handie in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Lydia, born in 1846, was one of two daughters of Robert William Handie, sometime bookseller and sheriff in Fayetteville.

During the period the letters were written, George worked in a Greensboro hotel owned by Mr. Scales, moved to Raleigh to work at Yarborough House and later to Richmond, Virginia. Topics included in the letter are the courtship between Emmett and Lydia, meetings with her fatehr in Raleigh, the illnesses, accidents and death of family members, and friends, local personalities, travel, and gossip.