A collection from the career and life of John Carter Minkins, whose journalism career spanned from 1888 through the 1950s. Included are 18 typed manuscripts of articles and speeches that he wrote, 18 letters, newspaper and magazine clippings, three portraits of Minkins, a certificate appointing Minkins as Grand Reporter of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, and two booklets written by C.H.J. Taylor signed to Minkins by the author.

The topics covered by the typed manuscripts includes: Historical figures like Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington Carver; The hypocrisy and foolishness of White supremacist ideas of racial purity; The New Deal; and civil rights for Black Americans in light of their service and loyalty in World War II. There are also speeches he gave at events for the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World.

Correspondence includes: Four letters from C.H.J. Taylor from March, 1896; Six letters of recommendation written in 1906 by publishers and editors that Minkins had worked for; An undated letter addressed to Robert Reed Church, Jr., the Memphis, Tennessee, political organizer; A 1944 letter from William McGregor; Two letters from Emanuel C. Wright of the National Freedom Day Association; A 1952 letter from Buena V. Kelley, Grand Daughter Secretary of the Daughters of IBPOE of the World; A 1952 letter from Armistead S. Pride, dean of journalism at Lincoln University, with questions regarding Minkins' career; And a 1952 letter from Rhode Island Governor Dennis J. Roberts.

Additionally, there are nine newspaper clippings by and about Minkins and his family and one article about C.H.J. Taylor, an article from Brown Alumni Monthly, May 1982, about his daughters who attended Brown Universit, a certificate appointing Minkins as Grand Reporter for the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World dated October 1, 1953, three photographs of Minkins, and two booklets by C.H.J. Taylor ("The Negro Normal and Abnormal," 1887, and "Whites and Blacks, or, the Question Settled," 1889) dedicated to Minkins by the author.