The collection includes correspondence relating to the mule, horse, and cattle trade; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Pike's Peak; and California. It also includes muster rolls and other materials of the 1st Company, 14th Regiment, 1st Battalion, Missouri Militia from the Mormon War of 1838, in which Elliott was commander; slavery papers, land deals, and medical and merchandise bills; transactions concerning the outfitting of the Santa Fe trade; promissory notes; papers relating to Howard County, including materials regarding runaway enslaved people, estates, criminal matters, and a certified list of registered voters of Franklin election district (October 28, 1872); account books containing notes on mules purchased, expenditures, deposits, and other financial notes; figures on cattle shipment; a recipe book; some materials relating to the Civil War; several bound volumes that include two account books of C.L. Elliott in Quincy, Illinois, in partnership with Robert C. Spencer (after May 1, 1885), consisting of nine separate accounts of varied business interests, including livestock, grain and produce, real estate, and lumber, 1885-1886; four account books of Hugh Elliott regarding general stores in Boonville (1848), Lyons (1849), and Estill (1870, 1899-1912), Missouri; a ledger of grocery and general merchandise accounts of the firm N.G. and J.W. Elliott, in Boonville, Missouri, 1837-1839, with clippings regarding 1844 Howard County elections; and a ledger of mule, horse, and cattle trade business of Elliott and Smith (Newton G. Elliott and William Smith, partners), Boonville, 1853, with partnership dissolution agreement, 1854.