The collection consists of 47 yearly diaries written by Frank H. Childs from 1907 to 1957.Entries record weather, visitations, expenses, travel, and daily activities. Also present is a complete set of cancelled checks from 1949 to 1959.

Box 1 contains 47 diaries written by Frank H. Childs. The entries span the years 1907 to 1957 and record weather, daily activities noting visitors and meetings, gardening, and travel throughout much of the United States. Some volumes record his expenses, and the later volumes include a history of his employment on the Boston & Maine Railroad. Frank H. Childs was a Freemason from 1920 to 1943; some diaries also include a list of his achievements as a Mason. Newspaper clippings, pamphlets and papers including a Guide to Locomotive Renumbering (1911), a Roster of Engineers and Firemen (1921), a bill (1954) from St. Anthony's Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, and a list of contributions (undated) totaling $2,036 for an unspecified cause are also included in Box 1.

Box 2 contains a complete set of almost 800 cancelled checks written by Frank H. Childs between 1949 and 1959. They are drawn on the Merchants National Bank in Salem, Massachusetts, or the Florida National Bank in St. Petersburg, Florida, detailing his expenses during these years.