This collection includes extensive documentation on the history and families of Cades Cove, Tennessee collected by John W. Oliver and used by Durwood C. Dunn in his book Cades Cove: The Life and Death of a Southern Appalachian Community, 1818-1937. The Oliver and Snider families are particularly well-represented, with good documentation of the Burchfield, Dunn, Gregory, Henry, Shields, and Tipton families as well. The Autobiography of Alexander Jobe includes information about that branch of the family. Other families, with fewer notes and documents, include Lequire, Sparks, Myers, Adams, Cable, Foute, Lawson, McCaulley, Bogle, Davis, and others.

Papers include correspondence; legal and business documents; genealogical, church, and cemetery records; personal memoirs; newspaper clippings; and papers associated with creating and publishing Dunn’s book. Many of the notes are by John W. Oliver's hand, some by Durwood Dunn, and others collected from various sources.

The collection also features many photographs of Cades Cove families, structures, and activities. Some of these photographs have identifying information, but most do not. A few are studio portraits, but most were taken near homes or other locations of interest.

An addendum was added in 2017 with material related to W. Wayne Oliver including correspondence and photographs.

It should be noted that the dates for the collection include those referred to in notes copied from documents not contained within the collection, rather than to the earliest and latest documents themselves.