Correspondence from 1825 to 1843 is chiefly between Eliphalet and Abigail (Cutter) Slack and their Slack and Cutter relatives in Massachusetts, New York, and Louisiana. Among the communications in this period are items from John Dutton (see also Financial and Legal Papers), judge of the Parish of Iberville, Louisiana, and letters from Martha Cutter, Methuen, Massachusetts, to Abigail Slack, 1833; there is also correspondence between the sons of Eliphalet and Abigail Slack. In a letter from Methuen, Massachusetts, July 2, 1835, to Eliphalet Slack in Louisiana, A. Durant tells of the good outlook for cotton factories and silk worm cultivation. There are letters about family deaths in October 1839 (baby Edward White Slack), September 1842 (Caroline Matilda Slack), July 1843 (William A. Slack), and in August 1843 (Eliphalet Slack).

There are five letters to Colonel Austin Woolfolk indicating business interests in farming near Jackson, Tennessee, and at New Orleans, Plaquemine, and Baltimore (dated: 24 October 1841; 1 March, 23 July, 16 August, 31 December 1844).

There are five letters to Colonel Austin Woolfolk indicating business interests in farming near Jackson, Tennessee, and at New Orleans, Plaquemine, and Baltimore (dated: 24 October 1841; 1 March, 23 July, 16 August, 31 December 1844).

Letters dating 1844-1845 are chiefly from Charles A. Slack, at Bayou Grosse Tete, to his relatives--uncle John Slack at Guilderland Center, Albany County, New York, and aunts, cousins, and younger brother, Henry R. Slack, at school in New York. Two letters written by cousin John S. Whiting at Grosse Tete, 1848-1849, are included.

Most items from 1850 to 1855 are personal and family letters to Henry R. Slack during years when he was going to school at Guilderland, Albany County, New York, under the care of his Slack relatives, and at Yale College (Class of 1855). The letters were written by Henry's brothers Charles and John at Grosse Tete, Louisiana, giving news of the sugar plantation, neighborhood, and local politics; by his uncles and aunts, John and Mary Slack and Granville and Harriet Slack, and cousins Henry and Abby Slack at Guilderland and Albany; and by his aunt Eliza Slack at Weston, Massachusetts. Other letters to Henry R. Slack were written by friends: John C. Boyd at Guilderland and Princeton; Walter Stillwell of Louisiana at Warnersville Union Seminary and later at Farmington, Connecticut; and Joseph Brewster at New Haven in 1855. They mostly discuss friendships, school, and other personal matters. During this period all three Slack brothers apparently went back and forth between New York and Louisiana.

Personal and family letters continue in the period 1856-1860 to Henry R. Slack who was at New Orleans for two or three years before settling in Iberville Parish (Rosedale, Louisiana). Among the correspondents of these years were Walter Stilwell at Farmington, Connecticut, and later at Rosedale; John Wager Swayne at Yale (1856); cousin Warren A. Durrant at Lawrence, Massachusetts (1856-1860); aunt Eliza Slack at Weston, Massachusetts (1856-1860); other Slack relatives at Weston and Guilderland; cousin Henry Slack in Albany County and also New York City; and brother John in summer 1859 while he was taking his family to the Virginia springs. Also included are letters to Henry R. Slack while Henry was travelling from home, giving news of Iberville.

Henry R. Slack married Louisiana Tennessee Woolfolk in 1860 (see Biographical Note). From 1857 on in this series, correspondence relating to the Woolfolks is mingled with the papers of Henry R. Slack. There are two letters to Louisiana Woolfolk at Grosse Tete in 1857, one from her mother, Emily Woolfolk, 14 February, and one from M- S- Denton, 6 November, at Patapsco, saying that she is sending a confirmation certificate and other things.

Letters for the Civil War years are chiefly from Henry R. Slack in the Confederate Army to his wife, Louisiana T. W. Slack, at Rosedale, Louisiana; there are also a few other family letters. (Some of the war letters are almost illegible because of paleness, tiny script, and cross-writing.) Serving with the 1st Louisiana Cavalry Regiment, Henry Slack wrote letters from near Nashville, Tennessee, 27 November 1861; Bowling Green and Russellville, Kentucky, 10 December 1861 to 10 January 1862; Shakertown, Kentucky, 23 and 27 January 1862; Auburn [Al.?], January 1862; Memphis, Nashville, Columbia, Pulaski, and Spring Hill, Tennessee, and northern Alabama, in February and March 1862; Courtland, Alabama, 27 May 1862; Chattanooga, Kingston, and Sparta, Tennessee, in June, July, and August 1862; Bridgeport and Frankfort, Kentucky, in September and October 1862; and an unnoted location, 16 April 1863.

There are six items written sometime during the period 1861-1862 without dates. (See also Series 3, Other Materials, 1861-1865).

There is one letter from John (probably John Dutton Slack, d.1864) to "Dear Brother" (probably Henry R. Slack) possibly 1861, that refers in detail to various types of weapons and horses.

Letters from 1866-1867 are chiefly to Henry R. Slack from Slack relatives and associates in the North. Among the communications in this period are items from W.A. Durant at Laurence, Massachusetts; Aunt Eliza Slack at Weston, Massachusetts; Wager Swayne (Yale classmate) at Headquarters of the District of Alabama, Mobile, letter responding to Henry R. Slack's inquiry about government aid for levies, 11 May 1867; Edwin Corner, New York (Yale classmate), letter in response to Slack's request for aid in finding a northern purchaser for his Louisiana property, 10 August 1867; and William F. Causey at Wilmington, Delaware, apparently on the same subject, 26 August 1867.

Material for 1868-1917 consists chiefly of scattered correspondence of the Slack and Woolfolk families. It includes a letter from Charles B. Slack, New Orleans, to Henry R. Slack, giving news of northern relatives and business matters; scattered correspondence relating to the Woolfolk family, of "Mound Place," and members of the Slack family; Henry R. Slack's directions to his brother-in-law, Joseph Woolfolk, about the care of the former's family in the event of his death, 3 November 1880; a series of letters, May-August 1890, from Henry R. Slack at Wheelcock, Louisiana, to his wife and children; a letter from H.R. Slack [Jr.], La Grange, Ga., to William Samuel Slack, about family matters, 21 November 1891; a letter from "Aunt Mat" at Rosedale, Louisiana, to William S. Slack; and a letter from William S. Slack to his mother, Louisiana Tennessee Woolfolk Slack, also concerning family matters, 21 January 1917.