The collection consists primarily of correspondence (1885-1919) and diaries (1874-1918) containing personal reflections of Charles Conrad Abbott. The collection reflects Abbott's life-long interest in the investigation, observation, and description of nature and Native American archaeology in the Delaware River Valley of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. A large portion of the correspondence is between Charles Conrad and his son Richard M. Abbott. Also included are a small selection of essays by Abbott, titled "The After-Thought of Age: A Series of Out-Spoken Essays," "The Archeological Significance of an Ancient Dune," "Old Fashioned Essays," "Paul Ingram: Pagan," and "Thoughts without Thinking."

Over 50 photographs are present depicting local scenes, friends and family, portraits, and archaeological work. Many are captioned on the verso. They range in size from 3 x 3 cm. to 19 x 24 cm. and consist of albumen prints, collodion prints, gelatin silver prints, a cyanotype and an ambrotype along with other photomechanical prints. Other material include newspaper clippings (1905-1918), two glass plate negatives, miscellaneous clippings, a Certificate for The Royal Northern Archeological Society, and Abbott's medical diploma from the University of Pennsylvania (1865).