This collection documents the life and work of Arthur Randolph Shields. It contains slide photography of the Great Smoky Mountains region and the Arizona desert, professional association membership information, professional research, writing and publications proofs, Shields family genealogical information, and personal correspondence.

The Henry Cherry Letters, 1864-1865, contain nine letters from Cherry, a Chaplain with the 10th Michigan Cavalry in the Civil War, to Amos Gould of Owosso, Mich., describing both military and civilian life in the Union Army during the Civil War. The majority of these letters were written from Knoxville, Tenn.