Collection consists of copies of documents originally belonging to James Rogers, Bristol, England merchant and ship owner. The material, dating from 1768 to 1794, largely consists of incoming correspondence, bills of sale, receipts, and other items related to ships' voyages and trading activities. The papers are arranged into three series: Ships' Voyages; Bills; and Business Papers and Letters. Much of the material in the collection concerns the African slave trade, but there is also information on the cotton, sugar, and fishing markets and trade. Documentation includes accounts for materials supplied to ships in which Rogers had an interest; accounts of ships, cargoes, and insurance; receipts for advances of wages to ships' crews; bills of exchange; petitions from Rogers' creditors; statements of shares in cargoes and ships; letters from ships' captains in Africa relating to purchases; comments on the state of the market; price information; letters from agents overseas; and other materials. One set of documents about the Mermaid contains comments on a slave insurrection on board. The collection also includes the same documents on twenty reels of microfilm, but the arrangement of the paper copies by topic and by date renders them easier to use. The original documents became the property of the Public Record Office, London, as exhibits in litigation that followed Rogers' declaration of bankruptcy in 1793, and are currently held in the Court of Bankruptcy records, indexed as B 3/4177 and B 3/4185, in the National Archives in Kew, England.

The folders in the Ships' Voyages Series are organized alphabetically by ship name, then within chronologically, with correspondence regarding the voyage first, followed by bills and other related items. The items in the Bills Series are arranged chronologically. The Business Papers and Letters are organized into two main subgroupings: by country of trade, and by name of correspondent; there are also smaller groups of miscellaneous correspondence, including Rogers' bankruptcy papers, which contain information on how the slave trade was set up, and on speculations in the cotton market.

Place-names mentioned in these papers include: Green Island, N.Y.; Kennebec, Maine; many coastal towns in Newfoundland; Cove Island, Ontario; Belize; many locations in the Caribbean Islands; and coastal cities in England, Ireland, Portugal (including the Azores Islands), and Spain (including the Canary and Balearic Islands).

A ninety-page paper guide to the collection created by the donor of the collection and available to the researcher includes descriptions of most of the ships' voyages.