Tied packet, 1997-1999, undated

The John Byam Papers contain drafts of letters, notes, and drawings written by John Byam, mostly during the time he lived at the Hearthstone Home for Adults in Hobart, New York. A significant number of the materials are letters or drafts of letters that Byam wrote to his extended family, which he usually copied over several times, often making subtle changes. These letters span from 1989 until about 2011, and almost all of them have multiple drafts of the same letter. Byam indicated that he rewrote these letters by noting, "I rewrote letter" or sometimes, "I didn't include this in letter." Byam almost always numbered his pages, and kept drafts of the same letter together, though some pages are loose and could not be matched with complete letters. Byam also kept extensive lists on various topics, which were also copied over several times. Examples of lists include: "The near or most popular names of boys"; "TV shows that are good to look at"; and, "The women who work here at Hearthstone."

Other material includes several composition books with Byam's notes, drawings, and lists in them. Byam tied packets of these notes, along with newspaper clippings (which often have drawings on them), and placed them inside the notebooks. During the processing of this collection, these packets were untied and flattened. If loose packets or notes were found in notebooks, the processing archivist retained the original order of the material within the notebook.

Byam used a variety of paper material for his letters, notes and lists, such as notebook and memo pad paper, printed material, newspaper and magazine pages, new and used envelopes, scraps of paper, and cardboard.