Since the original order of the papers was lost, they were arranged to provide the greatest access to the information contained in the collection. A researcher can locate information about the activities of a particular steamboat or railroad, or about chronological activities and accounts. In most cases, a researcher will need to consult more than one series within the collection. The papers are arranged into six series: Steamboats, Railroads, Stagecoaches, Accounts, Chronological, and Personal Papers. The Steamboats Series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the boat and includes bills of lading, transportation passes, crew lists, charters, contracts, receipts, vouchers and other types of material that provide information on the activities of the boats during the war. The series also includes folders for packet companies. (Appendix A contains a list of steamboats owned by each packet company.) All correspondence relating to steamboats can be found in the Chronological Series. Appendix B contains a list of those steamboats that include crew lists. The Railroads Series is arranged alphabetically by the name of the railroad company and contains transportation passes and bills of lading that document the transportation of troops and supplies by train. All correspondence relating to railroads can be found in the Chronological Series. The Stagecoaches Series is arranged alphabetically and consists of transportation passes and receipts for stagecoach companies that provided transportation for the Union army during the war. The Accounts Series has two parts. The first part contains monthly accounts of the Quartermaster's Department. The documents were kept in the original order according to Parsons' notations, and are arranged chronologically. The second part of the series is arranged alphabetically and consists of accounts with individuals and businesses for services and supplies provided to the Union army. The series also contains several bound account books that document the amount of money, supplies and services used on a monthly basis. The Chronological Series consists primarily of correspondence, but also includes transportation passes for any steamboat, crew lists of unidentified steamboats, unidentified bills of lading, proposals for transportation and general and special orders, arranged by type of document and then by date. The series also contains a list of steamboats used during the Vicksburg Expedition. The correspondence documents all aspects of Parsons' work and includes letters that discuss a specific steamboat or railroad. The Personal Papers Series contains correspondence of Parsons with family and friends, including William T. Sherman, Henry Shaw, Theodore Roosevelt and Heinrich Schliemann; a genealogy of the Parsons family; papers regarding land transactions; documents from Charles Parsons' autograph collection; two speeches about the life of Charles Parsons; and two folders of soldiers’ claims and discharge certificates. The series is arranged chronologically and provides information on Parsons' interests outside of his military career. Parsons' notations on several items in the collection provide a link between the loose papers and the bound volumes, and between series. Many of the envelopes that accompany documents in the Steamboats, Railroads, and Stagecoaches Series have notations that refer to the account books (bound volumes 12-21 in this inventory) listed at the end of the Accounts Series. For example, the notation “Book F, Oct Report, #62" refers to item #62 of the expense account for October 1863 in Account Book F (bound volume 17 in this inventory). Each account book volume also includes an index listing steamboats, railroads, and people. Some envelopes have a similar notation that refers to Purchase Book D (bound volume 9 in this inventory). Another type of notation appears on the back of correspondence from 1864 in the Chronological Series. For example, the notation “P18 Vol 1 1864" refers to #18 in the P section of Record of Letters Received (bound volume 24 in this inventory), which contains brief abstracts of the letters.