The Robert Hicks family papers consists of family documents, oral history interviews, memorabilia, and two published family histories.

The bulk of the collection is contained in an album and three folders consisting of photographs, news articles, documents, family histories, and a history of the development of the "Flowerpot" subdivision in East Lansing, Michigan. The album's arrangement is based on subject content, the first part detailing the history of the Hicks family and their involvement in the "Flowerpot" subdivision. This is followed by an outline of the Thurber family history, and account of Robert Hicks' life from 1972 to 1986 and minutes from the annual Hicks Family Reunion. A letter written by Moses Fieldhouse of Lockport, New York, in 1836 tells about his trip to Canada to visit his brothers, discusses the activities of relatives, and mentions farming and the price of food.

A letter dated 1847 from I. Kedwell of Terre Haute Indiana, discusses the finances of encyclopedia book sales.

In ten oral interviews recorded on cassette tapes, Robert Hicks discusses his early life in Clinton County, his parents, and the development of "Flowerpot" neighborhood. A recording of the memorial service for Robert Hicks is also included in the collection.

A History of the Van Sickel Family, published in 1880, originally belonged to Martha Jane Finch Sickles, grandmother of Zoe Thurber Hicks. The book also contains a handwritten genealogy of the family and newspaper clippings (early 1900's reporting marriages and deaths in the Finch and Sickles family.

"Hicks-Thurber Family History: Robert and Zoe", by Helen Hicks Kilfoy, records the Hicks family history from 1811, a Thurber family history traced back to 1652, and Michigan history from the 1600s to the early 1800's.