The Charles A. Jewell papers consist of original correspondence and a manuscript compilation of transcribed letters and family history.

The first group of correspondence (1860-1862) consists of original letters written by Charles to his family while he was attending Michigan Agricultural College, and a letter to Jewell's parents from Theophilus C. Abbot, Professor of English during this period discuss the courses he was taking, his instructors and their teaching methods, dormitory life, recreational activities, and the life-threatening epidemics that swept through the student body in the early 1860s on the MAC campus.

The second group of correspondence consists of Charles Jewell's letter to his family after he left home and joined the Union Army. His letters describe everyday experiences such as scarcity of food and lack of adequate clothing, and discuss how the war was affecting the people at home as well as the soldiers fighting the war. One letter written after the assassination of Lincoln reflects the grief and bitterness felt by the troops at their loss of the President as a leader. In a letter dated August 19, 1864, Jewell complains that he might be transferred to a negro regiment.

The spiral-bound manuscript (xerox copy) edited by Charles A. Jewell II's granddaughter, Ruth Jewell Nelson, contains transcripts of letters written by Charles Jewell and others between 1860 and 1865; letters and family anecdotes written by family members (1912-1941); and genealogical data on the Jewell family (1642-1979). None of the original letters in the collection appear in transcript form in the manuscript.