This collection contains a scrapbook and a student thesis compiled and written by J. L. Patterson while he was a student at Washington and Lee University. The title of the thesis (ca. 1920-21) is "Japanese Immigration" and was written as partial fulfillment towards the requirements for the certificate in Commerce in the School of Commerce and Administration.

The scrapbook includes ephemera, clippings, printed material, and photographs. The clippings primarily relate to athletics or advertisements for Lexington businesses. The ephemera is primarily related to student life and student organizations. Included are ticket stubs, enrollment cards, dance card books, event programs, and athletic events. The printed material includes the student handbook from 1919-1920, the Army song book, the preliminary register of students (1919), and a Student Army Training Corps booklet. The subject of the photographs include the Student Army Training Corps football team, their barracks and band, and members, as well as basketball, baseball, football, tennis courts, campus buildings, crew/rowing, boathouse, Liberty Hall ruins, C & O train car, students, and VMI. Of particular note are three photographs of students. One student is posed using crutches. Two other photographs feature W&L students with an African-American boy in one of the photographs. They are posed standing in front of the Rockbridge Hardware Company store window. The scrapbook ranges in date from 1917-1921.

Also included in the collection the May 24, 1921 issue of , and its Finals Edition presumably from 1921. There are also two copy print photographs unrelated to Washington and Lee University. One is of two unidentified individuals standing behind flowers placed on a fresh grave. The other is a photograph of a closed casket presumably on the front porch of a house surrounded by flower arrangements.