Reel One: Charles R. Sherman Papers (1808-1872); General Correspondence and Related Items (1832-1891); Ewing Family Correspondence with Jane H. Latimer (1853-1877); and Scrapbook of Correspondence of W.T. Sherman with Col. John C. Tourtellotte (1881-1891).

Among the papers of General Sherman's father, Charles R. Sherman, which form the first series of items in the Sherman Family Collection, are bank notes, receipts, items connected with his law practice, items related to his activities as Collector of the Revenue for the Third District of Ohio, a post to which he was appointed in 1813, and items relative to the settlement of his estate. Although he died in June of 1829, there are a few items subsequent to that date. The last of these is a memo dated February, 1872, by Judge M.M. Granger on Sherman's opinions while a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. They have been retained as part of the Charles R. Sherman series becasue they were so grouped when the collection came into the possession of the University of Notre Dame Archives. The second and most extensive series of items on this reel features general correspondence of the Sherman family, military orders, and various other items concerning the Sherman family, the General, and his activities throughout his lengthy and varied career as an army officer before, during and after the Civil War, a banker, a lawyer, and the first superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning. Interspersed with material from the Sherman Family Collection are a few relevant items of correspondence from the Orestes Augustus Brownson Papers, the Papers of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the Daniel E. Hudson, C.S.C., Papers, and the Edward F. Sorin, C.S.C., Papers, all of which are in the possession of the University of Notre Dame Archives and all of which are identified by explanatory targets. This series is followed by a number of letters from members of the Ewing family to Jane. H. Latimer, the sister of Thomas Ewing and aunt of Ellen Ewing Sherman. The reel concludes with correspondence of Sherman with his aide-de-camp, Colonel John C. Tourtellotte.

Reel Two: Correspondence between Thomas Ewing and Ellen Ewing Sherman (1835-1870); and Letters of W.T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman (1837-1861).

The first series of this reel features correspondence between Ellen Ewing Sherman and her father, Thomas Ewing. Filmed also as part of the microfilm publication of the Thomas Ewing Papers in the Ewing Family Collection, the strong bond of affection which existed between Ellen and her father as well as the prominent role which Thomas Ewing played in American History renders these items especially valuable. There follow Sherman's letter to Ellen Ewing, who became his wife on May 1, 1850, after a lengthy courtship. The numerous and lengthy separations between the two, necessitated by Sherman's professional responsibilities, render this correspondence especially revealing and extremely valuable. Although a number of these letters have been published in M.A. DeWolfe Howe's Home Letters of General Sherman (New York, 1909), a number of letters were omitted from that publication and many of those that were published were heavily edited.

Reel Three: Letters of W.T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman (1862-1876).

This reel continues the letters written by Sherman and his wife, a series begun on Reel Two. Included with the letters are various drafts for military reports drawn up by Sherman during the Civil War. These drafts he sent to Ellen. They will be found immediately following the letters in which they were enclosed. Along with the frequent and very detailed letters which Sherman wrote, they furnish a very revealing picture of Sherman's activities and opinions during the struggle to preserve the Union. Nor are the letters written after the close of that conflict any less interesting and informative, for Sherman's public life did not cease with the termination of hostilities. Frequently in Washington, he wrote both as an observer of and a participant in the turmoil that characterized the decades immediately following the Civil War. Appointed Commanding General of the Army upon the inauguration of Grant as President, Sherman's letters reflect both the difficulties which he encountered and his constant efforts, despite repeated attempts by others to draw him into the political arena, to remain aloof from political squabbles and intrigues. Included are a large number of detailed letters written while on inspection tours of Western forts -- letters which considerable light on efforts to quell the Indian uprisings of the period -- and also a number of detailed letters written in 1871 during his tour of Europe.

Reel Four: Letters of W.T. Sherman to Ellen Ewing Sherman (1877-1888); Letters of Ellen Ewing Sherman to W.T. Sherman (1844-June, 1863).

This reel completes the letters written by Sherman to his wife and begins the letters written by Ellen to him. The former reflect "Cump's" continuing activites and difficulties as Commanding General of the Army until his retirement from active service on Nov. 1, 1883, as well as his subsequent activities which included numerous speaking engagements. The letters from Ellen not only reflect her absent husband's activities and her own domestic cares but also, written as they are by a woman of intelligence, education, and social and religious prominence, they are worthy of attention for the light they shed upon American History during the period in question.

Reel Five: Letters of Ellen Ewing Sherman to W.T. Sherman (July, 1863-1888).

This reel continues and completes the interesting and informative letters written to her husband by Ellen Ewing Sherman until her death on Nov. 28, 1888.

Reel Six: Items Relating to the Sherman Children -- Mary Elizabeth Sherman; William Tecumseh Sherman, Jr.; Eleanor Mary Sherman Thackara; Rachel Ewing Sherman Thorndike; Maria Ewing Sherman Fitch; and Thomas Ewing Sherman (1863-1874).

The groupings on this reel apparently were established initially by Eleanor Sherman Fitch. Each grouping includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence as well as various other items through the year 1891 relating to the particular individual whose papers they form. Material concerning Mary Elizabeth Sherman. William Tecumseh Sherman, Jr., who died on Oct. 10, 1863, at the age of nine, Eleanor Mary Sherman, who on May 5, 1880, married Alexander Montgomery Thackara, and Rachel Ewing