Series consists of journals that Henry Drake Petersen wrote from 1969 until three months before his death in 2012. Most of the journals are Blueline brand hardbound black volumes with lined page

Petersen wrote over three million words in his journals. They include his thoughts about his work in the Library and on King's committees, his plans for the future, his friendships with a number of people, his daily routines, visits to
and from friends and family members, and lists of books he read. The last journals record the thoughts of a man confronted by a diagnosis of a terminal disease, trying to come to terms with the knowledge of his impending death, his
concerns for how his mother would receive the news, and the comfort it gave him to have people support him, such as when his cousin Alida told him she would be with him to see it through.