Composed of correspondence, typescripts of dairy excerpts, notes, and photographs, the Cordelia Sloan Duke Papers, [ca. 1900-1966], chronicle Duke’s experiences as a rancher, writer, and game warden. Correspondence concerns familial affairs, the XIT Ranch, the publication of excerpts of her diary, and the XIT Cowboy Association, of which Duke was the head historian. As head of the XIT Cowboy Association, Duke’s correspondence to former workers and their families who lived at XIT, documents her large-scale effort to cull information on the history of the ranch. Drafts of typescripts of her diary and notes pertain to her childhood in Kansas, her experiences as a teacher in Oklahoma and Texas, her arrival in Texas, and life as an employee at the XIT Ranch, while also discussing the lives of other families on the ranch and neighbors, her activities as a mother raising her family and the hardships she endured, descriptions of wildlife and flora, and the changing way of life in the region, especially after much of the XIT land was sold to other ranchers around 1912. After the death of Duke’s husband in 1933, notes and diary excerpts describe many of his roles that Duke engaged in, such as leading cattle drives and maintaining their ranch. Additionally, photographs in the collection depict members of the Sloan and Duke families.