This diary was written by E. P. Nelson from January to August 1871, with financial records in the first few pages from 1858 to 1860.

Entries, which are almost daily, discuss his family and business affairs, including that of his wife's family's farm, and usually begin with "Secret & family devotion - attended to stock Etc." A member of the United Methodist church, many of his entries involve his faith and the church community. Additional financial records appear intermittently throughout the diary, including a page recording his sales of the Nashville Advocate, a United Methodist newspaper, in 1859.