Jacob R. Elfreth Sr. was a teacher and a bookkeeper for the Leigh Navigation Company. The majority of entries detail family news, Quaker meetings, Elfreth's work with the Leigh Navigation Company, and births, deaths, and marriages within the Quaker community,

The commonplace book of the Morris family includes copied extracts from the journals of Margaret Morris, which include a description of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793, as well as copied poems, letters written by Mary Morris and Richard Hill Morris, and a clipped illustration depicting early settlers.

The first pages of William G. Rhoads's diary ask a series of questions concerning moral behavior and manners, which Rhoads subsequently answers in each entry. Entries also detail Rhoads's apprenticeship as a book keeper, social calls, and Quaker meetings he attended.