Papers consist of technical and mechanical drawings, formulae and notes, and other items. Drawings in pencil and ink (some hand-colored) depict a marsh plow, a windmill, a canal, Dutch yachts, an Amsterdam canoe (pontoon?), a trunk (irrigation device), a chakram (water-raising machine of India), a "double canoe" of Polynesia, a Venetian well (or cistern), a rice mill, a horse hoe, a gunpowder mill, a Welsh carr (carriage), the "bear" (plowing device?), and other devices. Some of these drawings may have been sent to Thomas Pinckney by William Vans Murray (U.S. foreign minister at The Hague in the 1790's). Several drawings (of the double canoe, Venetian well, chakram, the bear, and Amsterdam canoe) are accompanied by notes and descriptions. Formulae and instructions are for making cement for china, cottonseed oil, paints, oil compost, milk paint, and other products. Other items include a printed description of "Goodsell's Patent Hemp and Flax Dresser, & Grain Thrasher," a printed description of Benjamin B. Bernard's threshing machine (ca. 1808), a print depicting three bridges (bears the printed signature of Lewis Wernwag), a printed article entitled "Remarks on the Culture of Barrilla," a copy of a letter (1802) to Henry Laurens from N. & D. (Nathan and David) Sellers concerning a rolling screen for cleaning rice, and newspaper clippings.
A letter from Elias Ball IV at Limerick Plantation to Elias "Wambaw" Ball III exiled in Bristol, England on an account between the Balls and James Gordon, Elias Ball IV's tiredness, the rice and corn crops, planting 225 acres of rice at Comingtee Plantation, and debt.
Survey of Midway Plantation owned by John Ball Esq. The survey shows locations of rice fields, canals, dams, floodgates, pinelands, reservoirs, banks, the settlement situated on high land, roads, and "Lanneau's Ferry" also known as Lenud's Ferry.
A list of cattle from Kensington Plantation that includes oxen, cows, calves, and bulls. The document also includes a list of cattle that died or was killed, and cattle specifically from Hyde Park and Jericho Plantations. Makes notation that an ox was killed for "Negroes Christmas."
A letter from Elias Ball to John Ball at Kensington Plantation on traveling to PeeDee Plantation, and an issue with Doctor Reed over land that may require legal action.
A tax return for Elias Ball III for acres, pine land, two carriage wheels, 246 enslaved persons, four enslaved persons at the property of Miss Ball and eighty enslaved persons under the account for John Moultrie Jr.
