The collection consists of a relatively small percentage of loose material and a much larger percentage of bound volumes.

The loose material includes a variety of general business papers. Of particular interest are those dealing with Donohoe, Ralston and Company in Liquidation, which cover a four year period (1863-1867) of evaluation and recapitulation of the old company. Much of the other material consists of correspondence, notes, etc. to the bank regarding individual and company accounts. This is quite routine business, but presents an interesting cross section of the way routine affairs were conducted in banking sixty and seventy years ago.

Letters of credit, insurance policies, and business papers relating to income tax, semi-annual reports, balance sheets and statements comprise the remainder of the loose material.

The volumes include either complete or near-complete series of general cash books, blotters, checks and deposits volumes, draft stubs, collection journals, and balance sheets in bound groups, as well as statements and remittance records from other banks.

General ledger vouchers, for which there are no ledgers, are included at the end of the collection, and are left in their original bundles, arranged chronologically by month and year.

The records of the Donohoe, Kelly Banking Company certainly will be of interest to anyone with a desire to know a lot about banking practices in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries