Letters from Alma Schmidt Petersen to her parents, letters and photographs to Petersen from an admirer in the German army, letters from Seipp relatives in Germany to the Schmidts, and one letter from Lea Demarest Taylor to Alma Schmidt Petersen.

Letters from Petersen to her parents describe travel throughout the United States and Europe, and conditions at various spas she resided in with her grandmother for treatments. The letters from her and from aunts and uncles in 1914 describe social life in Germany on the eve of the first World War. The letters from Lt. Fritz Hirschberger, 1914-1915, are in German, and he includes small snapshots of himself, fellow soldiers, officers, and views of the front where he was stationed.

The postcard from Lea Demarest Taylor (daughter of Graham Taylor and manager of the Chicago Commons settlement house) is a thank-you to Alma for the gift of a book about the life of Bernadette Devlin.