Maria (Harriet Pike) Gage lived in Mount Pleasant, Indiana in the early 1800s. She was the daughter of Captain Zebulon Pike (1751-1834) and Issabella Brown Pike (1753-1809), and sister of General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, discoverer of Pike's Peak (1779-1813), and aunt of Clarissa Brown Pike Harrison, wife of John Cleves Symmes Harrison, son of William Henry Harrison.

William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) was the 9th President of the United States. He was also the first president to die in office, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and last President to be born before the United States Declaration of Independence. Harrison died on his thirty-second day in office of complications from a cold – the shortest tenure in United States presidential history.

This collection contains letters to and from Maria (Harriet Pike) Gage, the sister of General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, discoverer of Pike's Peak (1779-1813), and aunt of Clarissa Brown Pike Harrison, wife of John Cleves Symmes Harrison, son of William Henry Harrison. The letters center mainly on family matters, and include a very poignant letter from Maria to her son on the death of her father, Captain Zebulon Pike in 1834. There are two letters from her brother's widow, Clara (Clarissa) H. Pike and one from her niece, Clarissa Harrison.

The collection also contains a booklet of transcripts of letters from William Henry Harrison, the 9th President of the United States. The transcripts date from 1813 to 1840 and relate to the War of 1812, conditions in Indiana in 1815, Dawson's life, his letterbook, Congressional Medal and his 1840 campaign for president. Harrison was the first president to die in office, the oldest president elected until Ronald Reagan in 1980, and the last President to be born before the United States Declaration of Independence was written and signed. Harrison died on his thirty-second day in office of complications from a cold – the shortest tenure in United States presidential history.