The early volumes are paginated. The first two volumes include contents lists at the front. Volumes 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 12a include, at the back, explanatory lists of people mentioned. Volumes 2, 5, 8, 14, 15, 15a, 18, 20a and 21 include, at the back, lists of books read. Most volumes include sketches, photographs and postcards, the latter two being usually pasted in at the back, including many photographs of Perse High School for Girls sports team photographs, usually with keys to names. The early volumes relate typical family activities and events, including dances, concerts, shopping, walks, bicycle rides, theatre and church; also holidays, and school and sport. Most volumes make regular reference to Alethea's Uncle Eustace Tillyard [Dadi] and his wife Phyllis [Mudie-Cooke] and their children Stephen, Veronica and Angela; also, though less frequently, her Uncle Julius Tillyard [Dudu] and his wife Mina and their adopted children Walter and Constance. References to life at the Perse High School for Girls, including a great deal on competitive sport, are frequent in volumes 2-4, 7-8 and 13, and Perse sports team lists and photographs are included in volumes 2-5, 7-8 and 11. References to life at Girton College are most frequent in volumes 3, 10, 12-14, 15a-18 and 20. School friends mentioned frequently include Joan Wood and Peggy Willson. Girton friends mentioned frequently include Ruth Warren and Helen Megaw. The death of Alethea's Girton friend Olga Libowitz is referred to extensively in volumes 12a-14. From volume 5 onwards the diaries are less narrative of events and contain much more of an emotional nature, including Alethea's relationship with her mother, Aelfrida Tillyard [Aelfrida's own relationship with Anthony Wrightson is referred to in volumes 13-15 and Juan Mascaro, another acquaintance of Aelfrida's, is mentioned in volumes 10, 12a, 12b, 17 and 18]. There is mention of Alethea's father, Constantine Graham, in volumes 1, 5, 7, 12b, 14, 16, 17, 19 and 21. Volumes 5 onwards refer frequently to Cambridge University events and acquaintances amongst male students, some direct and some through her mother's teaching of undergraduate students. From volumes 8-19, there is a strong emphasis on her relationships with men, and in particular, her friendship with John Wedgwood, a fellow undergraduate, from volumes 13-18, and with Professor Piccoli, Cambridge University Professor of Italian, from volumes 16-19, also 20a. Volume 14 indicates the beginning of Alethea's interest in socialist issues and in volume 17 she describes her social study work in Fulham in London. Alethea's religious vocation begins to appear as early as volume 15.