Two books, each approx. 8 1/4 x 13 in., with hand-sewn newspaper-backed cloth wraps, approx. 92pp and approx. 62pp respectively (heavy wear to both books, including to covers and some pages, generally legible). Manuscript entries primarily constitute arithmetic lessons, but additional manuscript notes list family names, birth dates, and other identifying information.

Multiple names are inscribed within the notebooks, but the earliest entries seem to be the work of Joseph Shoots (1771-1855), then later at least one but perhaps multiple of his children have made additions. One inscription reads: "Joseph Shoots his Book of Arithmetic this part being Division of whole numbers taught me by Arthur Boys Farquier County State of Virginia 1787."

Joseph Shoots married Sarah "Sally" Thompson in 1794 in Fauquier, Virginia, but the couple had removed to Ross County, Ohio, by the birth of their third child in 1801. The History of the Salt Creek Township Public School System in Pickaway County indicates that in 1805 a log one-room school was built on the Joseph Shoots property. Shoots acquired additional acreage in Pickaway County, Ohio during the 1830s, and he died there in 1855. War of 1812 Service Records indicate that Joseph Shoots was a veteran who served as a private in Captain Morgan's Company, Ohio Militia. His eight children are identified in the lesson book alongside their birth and death dates when applicable.