This series consists of the correspondence of the families of John Langdon Batchelder and Augusta Lewis Batchelder. The earliest letters are between Augusta Gore Lewis and George Lewis, Augusta Lewis Batchelder's parents, as well as letters between Rebecca Lewis (later Brown) and her father George Lewis, when she was a child and he was a ship's captain writing from ports that included New Orleans and Macao. Batchelder family correspondence begins in 1856 with letters from John L. Batchelder to his father and his brother George discussing his work in the coal trade and his real estate interests. 1857 correspondence is related to his father's death and the settlement of his estate. Between 1862 and 1863, various members of the Batchelder family wrote to John's brother George, who was fighting in the Union Army with the 12th Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry and was taken ill for several months. Of particular interest is a 7 Sep. 1863 letter from Rebecca Lewis Jenning (later Brown), who describes fleeing from Louisiana after her house was burned and her husband killed, shortly after the capture of New Orleans by Union troops. Letters from John L. Batchelder describe a journey to San Francisco in 1865 through Atchison, Kansas; Denver, Central City, and Boulder, Colorado; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Austin and Virginia City, Nevada. He describes in detail his impressions of the West, including wagon trains, Native Americans, gold mines, and an attack by robbers on the road.

Between 1869 and 1871, letters from John L. Batchelder and Augusta Lewis Batchelder describe their time spent traveling in Europe, particularly through France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and England, including their observations of the Franco-Prussian War in Sep. 1870. Between 1883 and 1895, Rebecca Lewis Brown wrote to her family from Hondo, Colombia, where she lived with her second husband, railroad executive Charles S. Brown. In a 1911 letter, Rebecca's niece wrote to her about her memories of the Civil War and about commemoration activities in which she was taking part.

See Series III, Family history binders, for transcriptions of many of these letters.

This series includes a number of poems written by Rebecca Lewis Brown and her sister Caroline (Carrie) Lewis, as well as Rebecca's 1847 diary pages, in which she describes the birth and infancy of her sister Augusta. Also included are 1852 letters from Nathaniel T. Allen and Cyrus Peirce recommending Rebecca for a teaching position. Civil War material in this series includes a copy of a letter signed by Confederate officers, thanking James Oakes of Boston for sending them supplies; a poem written by a Confederate officer in prison upon hearing of his army's surrender; a muster notice for the Union Army; and a transcription of Rebecca's diary for Jan. 1864 recounting her journey from Knoxville, Tenn. to Lancaster, Ky.

These binders were created and arranged by Augusta Batchelder Hartt, the daughter of John Langdon Batchelder and Augusta Lewis Batchelder. Binders 1 and 2 hold similar content and were created as gifts for family members. They contain transcriptions of letters, the originals of which are found in Series I of this collection, with the exception of a transcribed letter dated 21 July 1937, the location of which is unknown. Transcriptions often include interpretive notes added by Augusta Hartt. Also included is genealogical information for the Batchelder family, as well as copies of documents concerning the Civil War service of George Batchelder (1831-1886). Binder 2 includes reminiscences added later by George Batchelder, Augusta Hartt's brother, primarily concerning his athletic feats. Binder 3 contains Augusta Hartt's notes about her arrangement of the material into binders.