The collection consists largely of survey field books, survey maps, and diaries of Roy James Robb. His diaries contain brief notes related to the surveys, which were done in Ingham, Clinton, Barry, Iosco, Mackinac, and other counties in Michigan.

Also in the collection are nineteenth century survey papers and field books, which he purchased to use for reference. Among the papers of Ingham County Surveyors are surveys by Anson Jackson, the first County Surveyor (1838-1848), Thomas J. Brown (1857-1860 and 1873-1874), William H. Raynor (1865-1870), and Aron P. Drake (1877-1880). Some of the survey papers may be copies from the original.

The early field books contain papers surveys of townships of Ingham County by Joseph Wampler (1824) Musgrove Evans (1826-1827), John Mullet of Detroit (1888-1889), and Walter Heath, County Surveyor (1903-1908). Another field book is of surveys in Menominee County by Henry Floyd (1847).