Letters and papers of Mrs. Obedience Yates, wife of Ignatius Yates of Utica, and of Alexander B. Swanson and his wife, Maria Yates Swanson. Swanson, a naturalized Scotsman, was a school teacher and later a lawyer in Raymond. He served in the State Troops as a judge advocate, and afterwards went to Vicksburg where he apparently was a cotton agent for the Union Army.

Included in the collection are letters from Mrs. Yates' sons, Jerome Yates and Thomas Davis, her daughter, Maria, and her grandchildren, Florence (Bettie) Chunn and Lucretia Fontaine; letters from Maria to Swanson; letters of recommendation for Swanson and his license to practice law in Mississippi. Also included are lists of marriages and deaths in the Swanson and Yates families. The bulk of the correspondence covers the reconstruction period. Seven items concern the Civil War period and give some knowledge of Swanson's dealings in Vicksburg.