The collection consists of correspondence and records from Justus Steinberger’s career in the 1850s as the Portland agent for Adams & Co. and for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company. Included are letters both to and from Steinberger, reports Steinberger wrote, a journal Steinberger kept in 1858, a letterpress copy book of letters written between 1852 and 1861, and ship manifests and receipts.

While a large bulk of the collection’s loose correspondence is with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s president, William H. Davidge, and agents Andrew B. Forbes and William F. Babcock, it also includes letters to Steinberger from prominent figures of the Oregon Territory such as Joseph Lane, Asahel Bush, Benjamin Alvord, and George H. Atkinson. The correspondence also includes numerous letters from Rufus Ingalls, who was then a captain but would become Chief Quartermaster of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War. Of particular note is a letter from Lane dated October 18, 1858, which includes a copy of a letter that Lane sent to Asahel Bush that same day, breaking off contact between Lane and Bush. The letterpress copybook includes letters addressed to Attorney of Oregon Amory Holbrook. An additional item of interest is an 1867 letter that Ulysses S. Grant wrote to Senator Henry Wilson, vouching for Steinberger’s character.