Illustrated in this collection are projectile points, tools, ornaments, pots, and other objects. Porter sketched the Indian burial mounds from which these objects were recovered and drew maps locating these mounds, including the "Big Find" in the Converse Mound Group, located on the west side of the Grand River, in May 30, 1885.

Porter's work includes some 355 items, primarily graphite drawings on various papers, but also some lists of items. Of these, about 130 are for archaeological items known or believed found in Michigan.

Among Porters sketches are also shown items collected in Arizona by Grand Rapids physician Louis Barth. Additionally, Porter sketched from archaeological catalogs or museum collections, including the Peabody Museum, and the local Kent Scientific Institute.

A few sketches of early Grand Rapids buildings and scenes, as he remembered them upon his arrival, are also recorded here by Porter. Finally, a large number of geological sketches, some from Kent County, Michigan, but many from Livingston Co., New York, document topography and rock.