The Noss family Papers consist primarily of letters written by members of the family of Christopher Noss between 1912 and 1924. The principal correspondent is Noss' son Frederick. In letters to his parents and siblings, Frederick describes his experiences as a student at Mercersburg Academy in in Pennsylvania (1916-1919) and at Princeton University (1919-1923). His letters discuss his schedule, employment, studies, and work on the Academy's literary magazine as well as the 1918 influenza epidemic and the possibility of service in the World War. Several letters from 1923-1924 describe his work as a teacher at the Massanutten Academy in Woodstock, Va. Letters to him by his sister Annabelle (Anna Isabel, later Annabelle Noss Welty) were written when she was a student at Northfield Seminary in 1916 and at Mount Holyoke College 1917-1919. They mention her course work, social activities, and events relating to World War I, including the influenza epidemic and the Armistice Day parade in Holyoke, Mass. Most of the other letters in the collection were written to Frederick by his father, his stepmother Carol Day Noss, his brothers John, George, Theodore, and Henry Noss, his grandfather John George Noss, and his aunt Emma N. Burkholder. The letters chiefly concern family news with occasional references to Christopher Noss' work as a missionary in Japan. The collection also includes transcripts of all but two of the letters, compiled by Frederick's daughter Letitia Noss Mutter, and genealogical and biographical information about the family.