The collection contains two issues of Niles' Weekly Register, published in Baltimore, Maryland, concerning Nat Turner's slave rebellion in Southampton, Virginia in 1831. Both issues, dated August 27 and September 3, 1831, give first-hand accounts of the rebellion from letters to the editor of the publication. The story begins on page 455 of the August 27 issue and on page 4 of the September 3 issue.

The collection consists of correspondence, newspapers, miscellaneous items, research notes, and other materials collected by Richard A. Rutyna, professor emeritus in history at Old Dominion University. Some of the topics found in the collection include local, state, and federal politics, Freemasonry, the founding and operation of the Airlie Group, as well as research on enslavement in Colonial Virginia, early Virginia and US legal history, and church-state separation.