This commonplace book consists of brief writings and observations on agriculture, arts and manufactures, commerce, the army and navy, canals and roads, weights and measures, general politics, finance, and population. It includes a sketch of the Battle of Quebec groundworks and layout.

Principal correspondents in the lettes of John Fries Frazer include Alexander Dallas Bache, Louis Agassiz, Joseph Henry, and Titian Ramsay Peale who discuss mainly general scientific topics, although personal and family matters are discussed with Bache. Topics include the University of Pennsylvania, boiler explosions, chemistry, education, the National Academy of Sciences, the Smithsonian Institution, fossils, magnetism, solar eclipses, the American Philosophical Society, weights and measures, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, scientific instruments, the American Civil War, electricity, the United States Mint, the Franklin Institute, scientists of the period, natural history, and publications.

This collection includes letters from, and drafts of letters to, scientists, artists, musicians, soldiers, political figures, and court personages throughout Europe, especially Italy and France. Topics covered range from personal and social affairs to agriculture, botany, geology, natural history, coinage, museum management, politics, weights and measures, current affairs. The collection also includes four diaries, housed separately with manuscript volumes.