This collection of 265 items contains correspondence and legal and business papers, 1810-1890, of James Brady, a general merchant and slave dealer in Scottsville, Virginia. In the correspondence to James Bradyare accounts of family matters such as illness from whooping cough (March 7, 1855), and a description of a voyage to Mexicowhere the author participated in the Mexican War ([ ] 28, 1847). Peter Loving, a family friend, discusses the immigrant situation in Missouricaused by the CaliforniaGold Rush (April 23, 1849), and a second letter elaborates on the actual land speculation of the same era (January 17, 1849). The bulk of the correspondence concerns the slave trade, carried on by various Richmond, Virginiainstitutions such as Pulliam & Davis, and Pulliam & Brady, and detailed by market listings. Leather goods, bank transactions, and land deals are also described in letters to Brady. Correspondence of Benjamin W. Brady, as well as some miscellaneous correspondence, typically concerns family matters.

The legal and business papers of James Bradycontain court orders, receipts, and records of his store's daily transactions. Of interest are receipts for slave sales, which give an overview of the development of the slave trade in the period precursory to the Civil War. The business papers of William Campbellconcern most often the daily commerce of his store. Miscellaneous business papers include advertisements (1846, 1890, n.d.), receipts, promissory notes, and a letter asking for credit at a tollgate facility (May 11, 1840).

Miscellaneous material includes an unsigned copy of a "letter" written by a new bride to an unmarried female companion which details her wedding night and present state of marital happiness (April, 1837) and an incomplete manuscript of the ninth chapter from a lost work (n.d.).