Letters from Roberts in Waterville, Conn. to his children in Sheffield, England commenting on his work making pocket knives for the Waterville Company, his working and living conditions, the number of Sheffield immigrants in Waterville, his Chartist friends in America and England, American road construction, the large shoes worn by "yankees," the company's notice that the workers use their own tools and files, and their decision to form a co-operative company. Other letters to Roberts from Thomas J. Bradley, president of the New York Knife Company, relate to Roberts' acquisition of tools and skilled labor in England for the company.