The papers in the collection consist chiefly of correspondence with business executives, political figures, and relatives pertaining to Harrison's business interests. The bulk of the material covers the period 1889-1897 and relates to Harrison's street railway and publishing interests.

The street railway papers pertain in the main to the Terre Haute electric railway company, Terre Haute, Indiana, and the Lake Cities Electric Railway Company, Michigan City, Indiana, but there is also material relating to the Richmond City Railway Company, Richmond, Indiana, the Queen City Electric Street Railway Company, Marion, Indiana, the Marion Street Railway Company, Marion, Indiana, the Muncie Street Railway Company, Muncie, Indiana, and the Citizens' Street Railroad Company, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Material on the publishing business related principally to the Journal Publishing Company, Helena, Montana, and its publications, the Helena Daily Journal, the Helena Weekly Journal, the Montana Mining Journal and the Montana Farming and Stock Journal, and to the Judge Publishing Company of New York.

Included in the collection is material relating to Harrison's activities in Montana as a member or officer of the North Montana Cattle Company, the Montana Stock Growers Association, the Montana Board of Stock Commissioners, and the Potts & Harrison Horse Company.

The collection contains a small amount of material on elections and politics; some material on the Aransas Harbor City and Improvement Company, Aransas Harbor, Texas; small amounts of papers on other companies with which Harrison was connected; and a Benjamin Harrison household account book, 1892.

There are photographs of Benjamin Harrison, Russell Benjamin Harrison, William Tecumseh Sherman, machinery and equipment of the Helena Journal, and unidentified street railway cars, houses, and views.

Printed material in the collection consists of newspaper clippings of a personal nature, on politics, and about the Terre Haute Electric Railway Company, a scrapbook of newspaper clippings, 1894-1897, and material on street railways and investments.

Among the correspondents represented in the collection are Francis Adkinson, Russell Alexander Alger, Henry Altman, Alfred Hinsdale Andrews, R. Williams Arisett, James Arkell, William J. Arkell, Clarence Walker Barron, Thomas McKee Bayne, Albert Jeremiah Beveridge, Albert Bierstadt, Henry Harrison Bingham, James Gillespie Blaine, Henry Nichols Blake, Alden Joseph Blethen, Alexander Campbell Botkin, Clarence Winthrop Bowen, Charles Arthur Broadwater, Horatio Chapin Burchard, Julius Caesar Burrows, Henry White Cannon, Joseph Maull Carey, Philip Carpenter, Eugene Asa Carr, Thomas Henry Carter, Thomas Lincoln Casey, Placide Louis Chapelle, Will H. Charles, George William Childs, William Claflin, William Horace Clagett, Alonzo Howard Clark, Joseph Ignatius Constantine Clarke, James Sullivan Clarkson, Powell Clayton, William Pitt Clough, Robert Charles Clowry, Foster Coates, John Albert Cockerill, Selden Jennings Coffin, Josephus Collett, Charles Henry Tucky Collis, Robert Johnson Cook, Daniel Chase Corbin, Henry Clark Corbin, George F. Cowan, William Van Zandt Cox, George Washington Cromer, John Schuyler Crosby, Oscar Terry Crosby, Thomas A. Cummings, Charles David Curtis, William Eleroy Curtis, George Royal Davis, Joseph Davis, Louis Addison Dent, Chauncey Mitchell Depew, Fred Thomas Dubois, Winfield Taylor Durbin, Stephen Benton Elkins, William Lukens Elkins, Woodward Emery, Charles Fargo, Jacob Sloat Fassett, Charles S. Fee, James Fergus, Mary Katherine Keemle Field, Edwin C. Fields, Robert E. Fisk, Harrington Fitzgerald, Thomas Schmeck Flood, Austin E. Ford, Samuel Wesley Fordyce, Charles Foster, Amos Tuck French, Henry Clay Frick, Eugene Hale, Elijah Walker Halford, John Adams Hambleton, John Y. Hamilton, C.S. Hammond, Moses Purnell Handy, Richard Austin Harlow, William Harmon, Benjamin Harrison, Mrs. Caroline Lavinia (Scott) Harrison, Mrs. Mary Angeline (Saunders) Harrison, Thomas Nelson Haskell, Charles Waldo Haskins, Aretus W. Hatch, George M. Hatch, Eugene Gano Hay, Thomas Abraham Horn Hay, Charles Milville Hays, William Babcock Hazen, Frederick W. Heath, Perry Sanford Heath, David Bremner Henderson, James Jerome Hill, Nathaniel Peter Hill, Samuel Hill, Cyrus C. Hines, Gilbert Monell Hitchcock, Garret Augustus Hobart, William Robeson Holloway, George Frederick William Holls, Joseph Howard, Herbert Marshall Howe, Robert H. Howey, B. St. John Hoyt, Henry Baldwin Hyde, Milville Ezra Ingalls, John Hamilton Inman, George W. Irvin, Ovid Butler Jameson, Morgan Jones, Thomas Johnson Keenam, Adelphus Bartlett Keith, John Cunningham Kelton, Richard C. Kerens, Willard Kidder, Theodore H. Kleinschmidt, Hiram Knowles, Fitzhugh Lee, Edward Owen Leech, Preston Hopkins Leslie, Joseph Kay McCammon, Alexander Kelly McClure, Samuel Sidney McClure, Louis Emory McComas, Robert L. McCulloh, Richard Aldrich McCurdy, William Osborne McDowell, Noah C. McFarland, James Robert McKee, William Riley McKeen, William McKinley, William Edward McLean, I. McMichael, C.J. McNamara, John Gilbert McNutt, Volney Thomas Malott, Augustus Lynch Mason, Aruthur Calvin Mellette, William Rush Merriam, Thomas Gale Merrill, William Henry Harrison Miller, Adam Leon Mohler, Samuel E. Morss, John Muir, William Irwin Mustin, William Muth, Alvred Bayard Nettleton, Harry Stewart New, John Willock Noble, Thomas Fletcher Oakes, Morgan Joseph O'Brien, Buckley B. Paddock, Truman Garrett Palmer, George Washington Parker, Burd Shippen Patterson, Bishop Walden Perkins, Ray Vaughn Pierce, Joseph Pinkham, James Robertson Pitcher, John Robert Graham Pitkin, Orville Hitchcock Platt, Thomas Collier Platt, Albert Augustus Pope, David Dixon Porter, Robert Percival Porter, John Potter, Benjamin Franklin Potts, Terence Vincent Powderly, Redfield Proctor, Eugene Henry Pullen, C.L. Pullman, Matthew Stanley Quay, Tom Randolph, Daniel Moore Ransdell, Estes George Rathbone, Jared Lawrence Rathbone, Green Berry Raum, Henry Warren Raymond, Thomas Brackett Reed, Whitelaw Reid, William Ball Rice, John Ezra Rickards, John Winebrenner Rife, Edward Gridley Riggs, R.W. Rippetow, Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Logan Holt Roots, Richard Pennefather Rothwell, George Presbury Rowell, Nicholas Randle Ruckle, Oliver W. Ruggles, John Sumner Runnells, Jeremiah McClain Rusk, Archibald J. Sampson, Wilbur Fiske Sanders, John Sanford, Alvin Saunders, Louis Frederick Schaeuffele, Emmet Hoyt Scott, Albert Joseph Seligman, Jesse Seligman, William Tecumseh Sherman, Charles Emory Smith, William Henry Smith, Albert Spies, Charles Ezra Sprague, Theodore Stanton, George Steele, George Washington Steele, William Edward Dodge Stokes, William Milo Stone, Granville Stuart, Clement Studebaker, William Howard Taft, Thomas Thacher, Leslie D. Thomas, James Bliss Townsend, Benjamin Franklin Tracy, George Webster Turner, Harry Beakes Tuthill, Charles Harrison Tweed, James Noble Tyner, Cornelius Van Cott, Jeptha Homer Wade, William Henry Wade, Lewis C. Walker, Louis Anaxarchus Walker, Lewis Wallace, William Wallace, John Wanamaker, Thomas B. Wanamaker, Charles S. Warren, John Isaac Waterbury, E. C. Waters, Elbert Durkee Weed, George Westinghouse, Thomas Benton Wheeler, Benjamin Franklin White, Marshall Pinckney Wilder, William H. Wiley, George Forrester Williams, Henry Lane Wilson, William Windom, James Hamilton Windrim, Ferdinand Winter, and John Sergeant Wise.