This collection contains papers of James Locke, a merchant and innkeeper in Salisbury, Newburyport, and Andover, Massachusetts. The papers include personal correspondence, business records, legal documents, accounts and receipts, and shipping papers. Also included are estate papers belonging to the Goodhue, Stickney, Stone, and Upton families.

Series I. Personal Papers includes personal papers of James Locke and his family. Box 1 Folders 1 and 2 contain correspondence from James Odiorne Locke to his father and stepmother, and also one letter to his sister Mary. The letters describe his adventures at sea from age 16 until shortly before his death in 1840. Folder 3 contains letters to James Locke from others, including several family members. Folder 4 contains two letters from James Locke.

Folder 5 contains papers pertaining to the estate of John Odiorne (1735-1788), the first husband of James Locke's wife Tabitha. Folder 6 similarly contains estate papers of Jonathan Dalton (died 1802), who was the first husband of Sally, James Locke's second wife. Each folder includes inventories, legal papers and accounts. The papers indicate that James Locke assumed guardianship of the minor children John Odiorne (1784-1826) and John Dalton (1795-1830). Folder 7 includes wills and estate papers of the Goodhue, Stickney, Stone, and Upton families, most or all of whom were related to James Locke through marriage.

Series II. Business Papers includes business and financial papers of James Locke and his associates. Most pertain to Locke's years as a dry goods merchant and part-owner of ships sailing out of Newburyport. Other papers deal with town affairs, particularly Andover. Among the accounts and receipts are also records of school expenses, building construction and maintenance, and tax receipts. Folder 12 contains a few news clippings and ephemera.

Series III. Shipping Papers includes bills of sale, invoices, dispersements, accounts and receipts, cargo lists, charter agreements, and other papers pertaining to 16 ships, several of which were owned in part by James Locke. The largest sets of papers pertain to the schooners Hope and Dolly. They are arranged in chronological order.