The collection consists primarily of the library (621 volumes) of Absalom Harris Chappell. This library reflects the varied legal and literary (classical and contemporary) interests of a scholarly antebellum attorney. Almost all of them were published before 1860, including a biography of Louis IX from 1668 and an edition of Diogenes from 1562. The collection also contains pamphlets (38, 7 written by A.H. Chappell) dealing with state and national politics, and family correspondence (14 letters). The latter includes the first item, a calling card, printed on the press of the Columbus Enquirer by Mirabeau B. Lamar, an interesting letter written by Joseph Harris Chappell as a child from Columbus on the eve of the Civil War, and the Chappell's post Civil War pardon.