The letters contain chiefly personal news; news of holidays and travel; and discussion of current affairs, reading matter, and historical matters of mutual interest. There are also occasional reminiscences about Girton, Girton contemporaries, the Cambridge Training College, and Cambridge University lecturers and supervisors, also discussion of current Girton matters. These become more frequent as time goes on, with frequent mention of Celia Dodd and Janet Matthews (the latter being a fellow historian). In the letter of 9 November 2009 N B discusses 'an official drive against rooks' at Girton and talks at some length about Celia Dodd. In the letter of 9 May 2010 she discusses the 1998 commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the admission of women to Cambridge University degrees. On 28 May 2010 she recalls M G Jones' comments on attitudes to women and the debate over admission to degrees. Parts of some of the letters have been highlighted by E J W M to indicate facts that she had responded to in her return letters.