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Mrs. Paul (Mary James "Jamie" Caperton) Burnam inherited the papers from her mother and father Col. James W. and Katherine Phelps Caperton. The majority of the papers cover the years 1880-1940 and were primarily assembled by Katherine Caperton and her daughter Jamie Caperton Burnam. The records reflect Mrs. Caperton's interest in family genealogy and history. Most of the materials in the collection concern family matters. However, some legal and financial records of Col. Caperton have survived and add to our knowledge of Madison County history through the perspective of one of its most able lawyers. The Burnam side of the family is not as complete as the Caperton side. Unfortunately, the papers of Col. Caperton's law partner, Curtis Field Burnam, one of the most prominent persons to have come from Madison County, have not survived except for a collection of some two hundred letters the Eastern Kentucky University Archives had microfilmed from the Western Historical Collection at the University of Missouri at Columbus. Burnam corresponded with his brother-in-law Anthony Rollins, the first president of the University of Missouri, between the 1840s and the 1870s. The letters offer the researcher glimpses into antebellum Madison County politics, the question of slavery, the tumultuous Civil War years, and Curtis Field Burnam's major involvement in post-war state and national Republican party activities, along with much information on personal family and financial matters. The letters, along with the Curtis Field Burnam scrap books, are excellent supplements to the Caperton/Burnam Family papers. The photograph series in the Caperton/Burnam Family Papers is particularly good in showing images of the various family members. Of note is a group of photographs taken October 7, 1907, at the dedication of the Daughters of the American Revolution marker at the original site of Fort Boonesborough. Unfortunately, few photographs of the family residences and property have survived. During the initial processing of the collection, the papers of Katherine Caperton's brother-in-law John Hooe Russel, a successful businessman, were found mixed in with the Burnam and Caperton family papers. The Russel papers were removed to preserve the materials as a distinct collection in and of itself. See John Hooe Russel Papers. For researchers interested in knowing more about nineteenth and early twentieth century Madison County history, the Burnam/Caperton/ Russel family papers should be used in conjunction with the papers of other prominent Madison County families (Clay, Hanger, Lilly, Wallace and Shackleford) housed in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the John Grant Crabbe Library.