The Howard Family Papers date from 1829 to 1868 and contain correspondence and a broadside. Most of the letters are written to Lizzie Howard by her mother Sara and her brother John. In general, they concern family news, social events, customs, and conditions in Tennessee. Events referred to include a visit at the home of Hon. Judge Ewing, Chief Justice of Kentucky; an epidemic of cholera in Nashville; the price of enslaved people in the area; and Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, a place of "fashionable escort."

Three letters written during the Civil War contain news of the homefront: Yankee troops occupy Nashville and threaten Memphis; the enslaved people have left and gone into Yankee employment in Gallatin; the unreliable mail service and lack of communication increase their sense of isolation.

The broadside is an advertisement for "Mrs. Howard's School for Young Ladies. Jonesborough, East-Tennessee. March, 1829."