The collection consists largely of photocopies and transcripts from tape of 48 letters, mostly from and to Meta Muir. They offer contemporary evidence about life at Girton College at an early stage of its history. Meta Muir came up to Girton in 1881, and among her contemporaries were Janet Case, classicist and tutor to Virginia Woolf, Margaret Llewelyn Davies, General Secretary of the Women's Co-operative Guild, Ethel Sargant, botanist and President of the Federation of University Women, Rosalind Shore-Smith (Mrs Nash), writer and journalist, chiefly on labour and suffrage questions, and Helena (Nellie) Sickert (Mrs Swanwick), lecturer in economics and first President of the Women's International League of Nations.
Meta Muir's observations of her contemporaries and of College functions, customs and daily routine offer valuable comment on women's early experiences of university education. Her father's interest in and comments on her course at Girton are, in themselves, valuable commentary on the texts and teaching methods of the period. All but seven of the letters date from Meta's period of residence at Girton College 1881-83.
The collection also includes a small quantity of photographs and details of the Muir family tree.