Handwritten note by Joseph Nussbaum of Mexia, Texas describing the boundaries of a property and providing the names of owners of surrounding properties.

Letter from Minnie Bradley to L. D. Bradley, dated March 9, 1885, and sent from Fairfield, in which she writes about their children's health, a vote in favor of prohibition, and several family members traveling to Mexia.

Sanborn map sheet showing an area of Groesbeck in Limestone County, Texas, including geographic features, buildings, and details related to risk assessment for fire insurance.

Sanborn map sheet showing an area of Mexia in Limestone County, Texas, including geographic features, buildings, and details related to risk assessment for fire insurance.

Sanborn map sheet showing an area of Mexia in Limestone County, Texas, including geographic features, buildings, and details related to risk assessment for fire insurance.

Map shows late nineteenth century Limestone County, Texas land tracts, patents, date of title, and deed recording data; railroads and towns; portions of adjacent counties where property boundaries extend beyond county limits. Relief shown pictorially. Scale [ca. 1:66,667].

Map shows late nineteenth century Limestone County, Texas land tracts, patents, date of title, and deed recording data; railroads and towns; portions of adjacent counties where property boundaries extend beyond county limits. Relief shown pictorially. Scale [ca. 1:66,667].

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design calls for a tank of water to be buried in the ground and a collar of cheap material to be attached to the tank and placed over the mouth of an anthill. The concave nature of the collar prevents ants from climbing out of it, so they are forced into the water tank, where they drown; the design is cheaper and less toxic than previous designs.

Patent for a new baling press design with description of parts and their functions, with illustrations.

Patent for a new and improved planter and fertilizer distributor. This design "consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, whereby the machine can be readily attached to and removed from a cultivator of any suitable description and used for planting seeds of different kinds and distributing guano at the same time that the seeds are being planted" (lines 15-22).

Patent for a new and improved cotton chopper and cultivator. This design consists in "the frame, the axle having drive-wheels, and a bevel-gear in combination with the longitudinally-sliding gear-shaft having [a] short crank on its rear end, the bar, the longitudinal rock-shaft in rear of and above the shaft and having the long crank, the handle depending from the rear-end of the rock-shaft, and the opposite chopping-hoes" (lines 27-35).

Patent for cotton house with bins and conveyors that prevent the cotton from being contaminated.

Patent for a "mechanism for handling seed-cotton [...] to provide novel means for conveying said cotton directly from the wagon or from the cotton-house to the ginning mechanism, whereby the cotton is cleansed and dried during its passage" (lines 7-13). It also helps to prevent fires and contamination of ginned cotton, and to reduce labor handling seed-cotton.

Patent for a new and improved advertising sign. This design "consist[s] in the fixed staff or upright having pulley, bent rotary vane having the opening, and adapted for the display of advertisements, inside [the] bent rotary vane, and the governor adapted to regulate automatically the speed at which the vanes are to revolve" (lines 68-80).

Patent for a new and improved animal power (engine). This design "consists in an animal-power constructed with a small wheel placed loosely upon a stationary upright shaft, and connected by hinges with the inner ends of arms and sweeps attached to the main wheel, which is mounted upon caster-wheels to support the weight of the wheel and its attachments. . . . The object of this invention is to economize power and promote convenience" (lines 16-25).

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists in "hinged jaws, draw-bars provided with a pin-hole . . . the jaws acting to support the pin until forced apart by the link, a hinged lever, a plate pivoted to said lever, said pin being attached to said plate, and an operating chain or rod connected to said plate for raising said pin" (lines 29-36).

Patent for a new and improved mechanism for handling lint-cotton. This design "has for its object to avoid the accumulation of dust and light particles of fiber in the atmosphere of the gin-house, to greatly reduce the dangers of destructive conflagrations in ginning establishments, to avoid the repeated handling of the cotton between the gins and the press, and to secure a more perfect separation from the cotton of dust and other foreign substances" (lines 8-16).

Patent for a sharpener for cotton gin saws granted to Robert S. Munger. This patent improves upon an earlier patent received by Munger in 1882.

Patent for a new and improved vehicle wheel for "preventing the tire from becoming loose" and "preventing the loosening and rattling of the spokes" (lines 8-11). This design achieves these feats with conically-tipped spokes encased by rubber cushions.

Patent for "detergent or washing compounds for cleansing clothing, fabrics, &c." (lines 14-16) which lists the ingredients and their measurements and directions for use.

Patent for a new and improved steam-heated evaporator. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the receptacle, the chest inclosing the receptacle, the coil surrounding the chest, the vat containing the chest and coil, the pipe having branches communicating, respectively, with chest and coil, and cocks, for controlling the passage of steam to the chest and coil, and the pipe for condensing the vapor from the receptacle" (lines 60-68).

Patent for a new and improved paint brush. This design "consists in an extensible and contractible frame having means for clamping a brush within the same, and provided at the end of its component members or plates with a sockets or tubes, in which are fitted adjustable stems carrying brush holders or sockets at their ends which are capable of receiving an angular adjustment in relation to said stems" (lines 15-23).

Patent for the invention of a new and useful improvement in Tamping-Machines. Includes full, clear, and exact description and illustration. Invention relates to an improvement in machines for tamping, intended for tamping dirt under railway-ties (20).

Patent for a new and useful improvement in Sulky-Plows. The invention utilizes "a novel construction-levers, and arrangement of hangers, braces, and levers, whereby provision is made for the attachment of plow-beams of different sizes, and for adjusting the parts" (lines 7-11)