Papers of John Evans Finley (1753-1818), consisting of two notebooks bound together, which Draper obtained from a son of Finley in Ohio. Born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Finley became a Presbyterian minister; he moved to Kentucky in 1794, and in 1798 traveled through the Ohio and lower Mississippi river valleys.

In Finley's larger notebook there is a fascinating array of disordered entries. Many are copies of papers of his father-in-law Job Ruston (d. 1785) - wills, land records, household property inventory (1770), appraisal of his Negroes, and a few letters-for Finley was involved in litigation in the settlement of Ruston's estate. Observations on persons, places, and physical features Finley recorded on his trip down the Mississippi to Natchez, Mississippi, and Natchitoches, Louisiana. During his trip he also copied records of land grants (1768-1769) to John Boynton, Joseph Galloway, George Morgan, James Rumsey, and Samuel Wharton in the vicinity of Fort Chartres, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia, Illinois, and a list of concessions surveyed near Kaskaskia (1783); and noted Patrick Kennedy's trip from Kaskaskia to Michilimackinac via the Illinois River in 1773. Other entries directly related to Finley's life include a family record of births, deaths, and marriages, contracts (1790) for his service as minister to the Presbyterian congregation of Faggs Manor, Pennsylvania, a proposal (1791) for a school of psalmody, a few notes on sermons and an address on “History,” copies of a few records concerning his black servant Jane Worley, and notations from Jonathan Carver's Travels and other reading. Kentucky land survey records mention not only Finley himself but many other names also. Among the many miscellaneous entries are forms for legal documents; numerous medical prescriptions; notes on the cultivation of vineyards and other agricultural problems; recipes for peach preserves, colored dyes, and the distilling of wines. Also included are information on mining gold and silver, on tanning, and on cotton factories; mathematical instructions and tables of weights and of foreign coins; geographical notations on the eastern and southern United States, with tables of distances from such cities as Buffalo, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. Some scattered entries were made by unidentified writers after Finley's death.

The second notebook, much slimmer in size, contains Finley's personal financial accounts, mainly in the 1781-1785 years, including itemized lists of money and goods he received from his congregation. In this notebook are also lists of marriages he performed from 1783 to 1790.