The collection amounts to one diary written by Henry L. Root for the 1870 year. The first page says “Patent Self Closing Diary for 1870 Published for the Trade” and the following pages have a calendar for the 1870 year, rates of postage, a complete table of stamp duties, eclipses for 1870, and a calendar with a weather record, sunrise times, sunset times, moonset times, and moon phases for each day. All of these pages are printed in red and black ink. The rest of the pages have the day of the week, and the date printed on the top of each page in black ink and the rest of the page has lines to write on. Henry L. Root wrote in black ink, blue ink, and pencil. He talks of the weather, the town, how he felt that day, and what he did or what happened during the day in his entries. The final pages are for memorandums and cash accounts, though he only uses the January page for cash accounts.

The inside front cover has written in black ink “Henry L. Root Constantine Jan 21st, 1870.” His writing is somewhat sporadic and picks up for a while before dropping off again multiple times. He starts January 1st and writes consistently until May 3rd, and starts and stops a few days at a time through May, June, and September, with his final entry being on October 3rd.