This collection consists wholly of personal correspondence from Nelson to his wife, Hal Fraley Nelson. Much of it is of a highly personal nature but there is a substantial amount of more general interest. The bulk of the correspondence falls in the period July 1917 to December 1918. During this time the newlywed couple were separated while Nelson finished his term as Treasurer of Gratiot County, Michigan and his wife ran her insurance agency in Ardmore, Oklahoma.

The correspondence contains comment on local affairs both in Ithaca, Michigan, and in Ardmore. Nelson writes about his service as Secretary-Treasurer of the Chautauqua at Ithaca in August 1917, and as Vice-President of the county Liberty Bond drives of 1917 and 1918. In addition, national affairs (particularly World War I) are heavily covered.

In the later years, the correspondence contains discussion of the investigation into the cement industry of Michigan in 1923 and the civil unrest involving the Ku Klux Klan in Oklahoma that same year. Further letters have a limited amount of material on the depression and World War II eras.