Biographical and genealogical notes and news clippings: Toole, Via, Barnes, Hobbs, and Suddarth Families. Majority undated, 1955-1967, Undated

The collection contains handwritten abstracts/summaries of letters dated 1838-1857 held in the University of Virginia. These are mainly written by John Toole to his wife, Mary Jane Suddarth Toole, but also other including his children, George and Jennie Toole, and a friend, Tom Moore. The letters concern Toole's experiences and accomplishments as a traveling portraitist, his children's education, John and Jennie's letters to their mother from the Virginia Military Institute and Petersburg Female College, respectively, and other family matters.

The rest of the collection contains genealogical and biographical notes about the Toole family and their descendants, a list a sitters (by county) compiled from his letters, canvas measurements of his paintings, and a published pamphlet of the John Toole Exhibition, December 1959.