Financial records, correspondence, legal records, printed material, and creative works document the family of James A. McDonald, Sr. for a ninety-year span (1848-1938) in DeWitt County, Texas. Financial documents (228) form the bulk of the McDonald Family Papers. Tax receipts (80) of James A. McDonald, Sr. (1856-1905) and James A. McDonald, Jr. (1880-1904) record the changes brought by the Civil War and the family ties to the land in DeWitt and Victoria Counties. Statements of account (54), receipts (68), bills of lading and bills of sale (1850-1891) document not only the purchases and sales of the family but also illuminate the transactions of businesses during the nineteenth century in DeWitt County. Promissory notes (16) record financial transactions. Of interest is a promissory note (1861) for the hire of Negro Boy Jim for $200 plus 4 sets of clothes, 1 hat, 2 pairs of shoes, and a blanket. Two memorandum books (1882-1885) kept by Ann McDonald as treasurer of the Thomaston Ladies Society indicate the members may have operated a small business by manufacturing and selling clothing and loaning money. Three Confederate certificates of exchange and bonds document the impact of the precarious state of the economy on individuals in 1864. The bulk of the correspondence (1857-1886) is related to the financial affairs of James A. McDonald, Sr. Of interest is an 1854 letter to John McDonald concerning the payment of notes in Mississippi. Legal documents (9) include a land patent, James A. McDonald, Sr.'s Amnesty Oath (1865) and Oath of Allegiance (1867), a brand registered to James A. McDonald, Jr. (1883), and the exclusive rights for 17 years to patent an Improvement for Destroying the Cutting Ant (1875). Printed materials include newspaper clippings and a guest ticket for the 1928 Democratic Convention held in Houston. Two dimity lace patterns illustrate the fine handwork young girls were expected to master in their preparation for adulthood.