The bulk of the collection deals with the financial transactions of (and especially debts owed to) Seaborn Jones, the records of his (and to a lesser degree Benning's) law practice, and the Civil War correspondence and records of Henry L. Benning. T he legal papers contain copies of suits and various estate proceedings for a wide variety of individuals; these items reflect other aspects of antebellum life in Georgia, particularly the institution of slavery. Jones's papers included a leather packet containing approximately 150 items, most of these were notes or debts owed to him, apparently at the time of his death. They reflect his business activities and the financial practices of the period. Benning's war correspondence deals with his service throughout the war and includes orders sent to him, reports of engagements, both those sent to him and those he submitted to his superiors. Much of this material probably also appears in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, but it does include original material about his actions.

The Benning portion of this collection was originally given on loan to the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina. They arranged it and microfilmed it and returned it to Columbus. It was then donated to the Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences by Mrs. Henry Pease along with the material relating to Seaborn Jones. This collection was transferred to the Columbus College Archives at the same time as the Alva C. Smith Collection and the Columbus Museum Collection. C. Dexter Jordan, Harold Martin, and Frank Schnell played important roles in allowing the Columbus College Archives to acquire these significant collections in the first year of its existence.

At the time Mrs. Pease donated this collection to the Columbus Museum of Arts and Sciences, she also donated another box of materials, which included memorials for Henry L. Benning and some organizational pins belonging to Anna Carolina Benning and Mary Howard Benning. These items might be considered as an adjunct collection to the Benning-Jones Collection. They reached the Columbus College Archives as part of the Columbus Museum Collection and they have not been separated from that collection.