Papers of John F. Noble include diaries and other materials related to journeys, his life in Oregon and Washington, and his business interests. The diaries consist of an incomplete overland diary, with a typescript transcription, documenting Noble's trip from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (April 9, 1849) to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (May 6, 1849) as a civilian traveling with the U.S. Mounted Rifle Regiment; an 1860 diary of a hunting trip from The Dalles, Oregon, along the Deschutes River; an 1864-1865 diary of a trip through Indian country, describing John M. Drake's expedition; and an 1865 diary that Noble kept at Camp Watson. Other papers in the collection include 1852 survey notes by George C. Bomford concerning The Dalles; quartermaster accounts, Fort Vancouver, Washington, 1853; election returns and other documents, 1855, of Walla Walla County, Washington Territory; Chinook vocabularies; papers, 1858-1861, of Noble & Scholl relating to stock raising near The Dalles; military papers, 1863-1866, of the 1st Oregon Cavalry Volunteers; and a summary of evidence and correspondence, 1898-1950, concerning the Indian depredation claim case of Brooke, Bomford & Company, a stock-raising firm near Walla Walla in which John F. Noble was a partner.