The collection consists of papers of various members of the Howell family of Troy Hills and Morris County, New Jersey, and their relations the Cobb family. At least six generations of the Howell family are represented. Included are letters, court dockets (1777-1783), accounts, receipts, bonds to Nathan Howell, and the Last Will and Testament other documents of Benjamin Howell (1725-1798); letters, documents, and estate papers of his son John,1759-1834, a draft of the charter of the Troy Academy; and material pertaining to John's death and his estate. There is correspondence, accounts, leases, etc., of John's sons Benjamin (1786-1852) and Samuel Farrand (1788-1860); diaries, school reports, and correspondence of Benjamin's sons Lemuel C. (1829-1862), Princeton Class of 1850, and Monroe (1819-1883); and correspondence and a school report of Monroe's grandson Benjamin Franklin (1891-1976, Princeton Class of 1913). In addition, Benjamin Howell's (1786-1852) material also includes a quit-claim for property to Lemuel Cobb, in Eastern New Jersey, a notice of a special meeting of the Board of Proprietors at Perth Amboy, dated January 17, 1846, a survey of a tract of land at "Green Pond" in Pequannock, N.J., surveyed by Benjamin Howell himself. Also among Benjamin Howell's papers is an Indenture for a slave girl named "Sarah Tattan" - 12 years old - dated January 6, 1835; and there are records of renovations and additions done to his house. Included are diaries, school reports, and correspondence of Benjamin's sons Lemuel Cobb Howell, 1829-1862, and Monroe Howell, 1819-1883; and correspondence and a school report of Monroe's grandson Benjamin Franklin Howell, 1891-1976. Other family members represented in the collection are Benjamin Howell, 1891-1976, Claire Howell, Henry C. Howell, Samuel F. Howell, and Thomas C. Howell.

Material of the Cobb family includes the Last Will and Testament of Lemuel Cobb and correspondence, deeds, accounts, and surveys of land in Morris County of Cobb and his sons Judge Andrew Bell Cobb and Louis Cobb, as well as a biography and a genealogy of the Cobb family, and other family papers. Also to be found is a diary of Walter Kirkpatrick, a 41 pp. manuscript document of New Jersey Governor William Franklin regarding affairs in New Jersey, dated February 28, 1739; and a survey of property in Burlington's "Eastern Division of the Province of New Jersey" dated February 24, 1716. There is also material of George, Jacobus, and James Anderson, and of Abraham and Cornelius Peers. In addition, there are several 18th century unidentified account books, surveys, and sermons, some of which are dated as early as 1703.