This collection documents the legal, financial, personal, and family affairs of Richard Wright Simpson, Thomas Green Clemson, Anna Calhoun Clemson, and Gideon Lee, for his deceased wife Floride and their daughter, Isabella Lee, who was Clemson's only grandchild. The Lee's contested Clemson's will. The papers, and original documents, are resources Simpson and other legal representatives used to prepare for the court cases and estate settlement following Thomas Greene Clemson's death on April 6, 1888. The correspondence documents Henry Aubrey Strode's acceptance of the Clemson Agricultural College presidency and his subsequent interaction with trustees, state agencies and laborers and contractors associated with constructing and staffing the college. Also documents the turbulent relationship between Patrick Hues Mell, Simpson and the Board of Trustees. And documents Simpson's acitivites and experinces in the State Legislature during Reconstruction. The collection also includes a list of the first faculty, a short biography of Henry Aubrey Strode, and a tribute to John C. Calhoun. Additional material, includes receipts documenting financial transactions Simpson conducted on behalf of Clemson College, and several items related to Thomas Clemson which were donated to the College by Simpson in 1904. They include the notice of Clemson being awarded an honorary degree by Lafayette College, 1849; the notice that Clemson had been given the Order of Leopold, 1860; Clemson's card as Superintendent of Agriculture, 1860; and his pardon from the federal government, 1866.