The Bradford family collection contains records documenting the Bradford Sand Mining Company as well as papers pertaining to the Bradford family.

Spanning the period from 1831 to 1941, materials in the Bradford Sand Mining Company series include various items documenting the business activities related to land development by the company. Further organized into two subseries, the Business documentation subseries include the articles of association from 1877; advertising brochures from circa 1888; correspondence with Garden City Sand Company, The Peerless Sand Company, and the Hoosier Moulding Sand Company; and financial records such as checkbook stubs and rough dock inventories. The bulk of the material in the Bradford Sand Mining Company series relates to land development. Within this subseries are records dealing with electric service, land acquisition, pipelines, and roadway construction. Common items in all four topic areas are petitions to build and right-of-way grants. Items specific to electric service include pole agreements and a bill of sale for electrical wires. Materials relating to pipelines also include a sketch mapping out where the pipelines are located. Land acquisition materials consist primarily of land grant agreements. Among the items relating to roadway construction is an 1876 observer's journal documenting progress made up to that point.

The second series contains papers pertaining to the Bradford family from 1865 to 1940. This series is further organized into six subseries: Correspondence, Family history, Finances, Land deeds and grants, Local memorabilia, and Wills. Correspondence consists largely of letters written to the Bradfords by Eliza (Bradford) and husband Dr. Grant Monical from Camp George in Georgia and later Cuba where Grant was a Captain in the Spanish-American War. Documenting the Bradford family history is an undated pencil sketch of the family tree accompanied by a related piece of correspondence. There are also requests from Horace Standish Bradford and the Society of Mayflower Descendants for further genealogical information. Financial items include checkbook stubs from the early 1900s, account balance sheets, and state income tax forms spanning from the period from 1925 to 1940. A large collection of land deeds documenting the passing of family land from one generation to the next covers 68 years, from 1865 to 1933. The Memorabilia subseries includes an undated Republican Party election flyer, Perry Bradford's certificate from Indianapolis Business College indicating he paid for "Life Membership", which allowed him to take courses for life, a 1930 Morgan County Farmer's Yearbook, and what appears to be a prose book, handwritten, author unknown. Also held in the Bradford family collection are the wills of Albert and Perry Bradford, various members of the Bradford family, Joseph Campbell, and John H. Rothrock, Sr.