The John Cropper correspondence consists of 18 letters written by John Cropper to Marget Cropper, his wife, and George Abbot, as well as letters received by him from George Corbin, his uncle, or other individuals. The letters deal with domestic issues of his family life as well as glimpses of the war effort during the Revolutionary War.

These letters were given to the Rare Book Room of Smith College Libraries in memory of John Spencer Bassett by Josephine Whitney Nixon (Smith College Class of 1909) through her daughter, Elizabeth Nixon Roseberry (Smith College Class of 1935) in June 1953. The letters had been preserved by Mrs. Nixon's grandmother, Emma Hopkins Stevenson. There is no known relationship to any of the Cropper family.