Though primarily correspondence, some documents, such as deeds and indentures, financial papers, such as receipts, invoices, and inventories, are interspersed throughout, especially in earlier correspondence. Also included are a few ephemeral materials as well as writings by various family members, including those of Chester W. Burton and Clarissa Harris, both of whom wrote articles for publication in local newspapers and journals.

Some correspondence of special interest includes numerous Civil War-era letters to Chester W. Burton regarding the war as well as letters about events and life in newly-settled western territories. Related to the former are letters and documents showing that Burton avoided serving in the war (he was drafted in August 1863), by providing a substitute named James Kelly who deserted after one month of service. There is also a small batch of letters written to Burton from soldiers from Company D of the 9th New York Cavalry, specifically James Ogden, who enlisted as a corporal and was promoted to bugler, and Charles Crosby, who enlisted as a corporal and later promoted to sergeant.

Other letters of note include those from Burton's sister, Maria, and her husband, J. Billings, who lived in Denver, Colorado, concerning the sizable population of southerners in the Colorado gold fields and in Denver itself, and the agitation among them to claim the territory for the Confederacy. In a letter dated September 5, 1861, likely from Maria, she writes about a panic in Denver over a possible rebel invasion or insurrection; and in a follow-up letter dated October 20, 1861, mentions an increased level of security in Denver provided by home guards. There are also several letters from friends and family out west involved in gold mining, including a couple of letters dated 1867 from an unidentified homesteader from Grizzly Gulch, Montana Territory about the Gold Rush and surviving the harsh winter out west.

Also included is the declaration of founding of the Universalist Society of Portland (1821) as well as a few letters and documents relating to the Burton family members who were veterans of the War of 1812, including Hiram Burton who requested disability for wounds that he had received (1871).