Manuscript volume, 1866, 1873, and 1880-1885, details the management and farming operations of two Singleton family plantations, Deer Pond in Richland County, South Carolina, and Melrose in Sumter County, South Carolina. This volume identifies names of many African-American residents employed on these properties.

The handwritten title page indicates that notations were recorded by “J.P. Broun, Emplr.” and “R. Broun, Agent.” The entries from 1866 are listed under individual workers’ names and indicate work time lost due to a variety of reasons including injury and sickness. The remainder of the volume includes daily entries indicating work done around the plantations by hired hands and provisions sold to these workers on credit from a plantation store.