This collection includes a bound unpublished version of James Atkins Shackford's "The Autobiography of David Crockett." In two volumes, this collection is organized into an introduction, an annotated text of the Autobiography of David Crockett, and two appendices. The introduction describes the significance of the autobiography, the history and state of Crockett scholarship, and the authorship of the Crockett books.

Volume 1 contains the introduction and autobiography with annotations. Before the introduction, there is a portrait of Crockett with a description and a preface acknowledging those who helped Shackford in the project. In the introduction, he focuses on the value of the autobiography in terms of how it was overlooked in the past but may be helpful for deciphering the truth of Crockett's life. The autobiography contains Shackford's annotations mostly clarifying and defining terms and ideas. It is indicated that Crockett was not fully literate and authorship is debated, so annotations provide additional information for better understanding of the material.

Volume 2 contains appendices and relevant information to the research done, separated into two sections: "Photostats of Crockett Letters and Documents" and "Annotated and Collated Crockett Bibliography."

Also included in this collection are loose photostats of letters signed by David Crockett dated 1834-1835, one of which was most likely his own handwriting.