The collection documents the lives of Irish immigrants from the Doyle and Evans families. It consists of letters to Ellen Doyle and her daughter Mary Doyle Evans from relatives and their former employers, the Persse family. The collection includes the papers of Mary Doyle Evans's husband, Joseph Evans III. Additionally, there are materials collected and created by Jessie Evans Dugan, granddaughter of Mary Doyle Evans. Further research by historian James Charles Roy supplements Dugan's work. The research materials for both Dugan and Roy contain some original family materials, as well as family trees, newspaper clippings, research notes, and photographs of family papers and artifacts. Lastly, there are transcriptions of some of the family letters, prepared by Kerby Miller.