This collection documents the personal life of Eileen Gillespie Slocum (1915-2008), primarily through her letters, diaries and engagement books. Correspondence captures her interactions and daily life with family and friends from Newport, R.I., New York, N.Y. and Washington, D.C. from the 1920s to the early 2000s. Her husband, John J. Slocum, served as a diplomat abroad and thus several letters pertain to their time overseas. The collection also includes drafts of Eileen's unpublished novels, as well as political ephemera from her involvement with the Rhode Island Republican Party.

The collection also includes some papers and correspondence of Eileen's sister Phyllis Gillespie Schumacher and their mother Irene Sherman Gillespie, including financial and legal documents that show difficulties paying debts in the early 1930s, perhaps connected to the economic downturn after the stock market crash of 1929. A few items pertain to Eileen's father, Lawrence L. Gillespie as well as her grandfather, Major General George Lewis Gillespie.