Lydia Barton Cooke was a Philadelphia Quaker who joined the Hicksites in 1828. Diary entries include prayers, poems, descriptions of domestic duties, social calls from family and friends, Quaker meetings, and discussions of the health of her husband and children. Cooke's diaries also feature religious reflections, potentially concerning the separation between Orthodox and Hicksite.

Susan Foulke was an Orthodox Quaker and a member of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. Entries detail Susan’s daily life and include prayers, religious reflection, descriptions of visits to friends and family in Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, and births, deaths, and marriages within her family and the Quaker community.