The collection contains personal records, correspondence, school yearbooks, commencement pamphlets, mounted and unmounted photographs, a photograph album, whole issues of newspapers and clippings, and ephemera.

The collection begins with items associated with Sarah Dorsey Betts’ involvement in the American National Red Cross, including a canteen pin, a hat, a patch that reads “Blood Donor Service,” certificates, and an identification card. These items are dated 1942-1944.

Among the newspaper clippings are obituaries for Ida May Dorsey Compton (the sister of Sarah Dorsey Betts), Joe Betts, and Walter Frank Betts, Jr.; and a clipping of an “Athens Album” article from the Athens Banner-Herald that includes a photograph of the teachers at Athens schools, 1899-1900, providing their names. The collection also contains complete issues of newspapers, most importantly an extra issue of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for December 7, 1941, reporting on the Pearl Harbor attack, in good condition. An issue of the Athens Banner-Herald of June 29, 1941, includes an article about the death of Walter Frank Betts, Jr., in decent condition. And there are issues of the Athens Banner and the Banner-Herald from 1921 and 1927, respectively, both in poor condition.

Of especial significance to local historians are Athens High School yearbooks, titled The Red and White, for the years 1924, 1926 and 1927. These contain rare information about the teachers and students at the school then and photographic depictions of said persons and the old Athens High building (originally the county courthouse, located at what is now the intersection of Finley and Prince, long since demolished).

Other education-related materials include University of Georgia commencement pamphlets and programs from the years, 1930-1933, as well as a certificate from the Baxter Street School for Joe Betts dated May 30, 1923, and a report card from the Palatka Public School dated May 10, 1895. Other items include correspondence (one is dated 1898, another 1876), paperwork for gas rations, and warranty and security deeds. There are correspondence and application forms in relation to Allea Betts applying for entrance to the Daughters of the American Revolution in the 1940s; a family history connected to this process is also found here. These genealogical papers were originally in a three-ring binder.

The final series contains photographs of the Betts family and their home dating roughly 1900-1940. Some photographs are labeled with names, including: Mae, Allea, Hank Betts. This series also contains photographic postcards of the family, all of which appear to be taken 1900-1910, some of which have the family members' names written on the back, including Frank, Ma, Mae, Elizabeth Dorsey Maxey, Elizabeth, Joe, Charlie and Allea. The two small cosmetic compacts (one still with powder puff and powder), housed in a small archival box, have been placed in this series.