The bulk of this series consists of Stephen McPherson's diaries, from his arrival in Northern California in 1864 through 1892. These give a sometimes vivid portrayal of the daily life of a schoolteacher, and later "viticulturist", businessman, and sometime entrepeneuer in Santa Clara County and what later became Orange County in the last half of the 19th century. Additional materials include account and wage books relating to Stephen McPherson's farming activities after the collapse of the McPherson Brothers raisin grape enterprise; his teaching certificates; and a map and wage books detailing, inter alia, work on roads, dams, and bridges, deriving from Stephen's position as Road Overseer for Orange District, to which office he was elected, on the Republican ticket, in 1890.