Roy L. Little was born March 9, 1890. He received his B.S. (1912) from Iowa State College (University) in animal husbandry. While at Iowa State, Little was a member of the Alamo Club and a Cadet Captain. After college, he returned home to farm with his father near Cherokee in northwest Iowa. He died September 30, 1968.

Clara I. Shinkle was a graduate (1909) of Ames High School. She received her B.S. (1914) from Iowa State College (University) in home economics. While in college, Clara was a member of the Delphian Literary Society. She probably met Roy Little while in college and they were later married.

The collection (1909-1979, n.d.) contains college notebooks and farm diaries of Roy and Clara (Shinkle) Little. Clara's notebooks include notes from classes attended while studying domestic science at Iowa State and include classes in botany, art history, personal sanitation and hygiene, food preparation and cooking, and human physiology. Notes are all recorded in pencil and the botany and human physiology notes include hand drawn illustrations related to the material covered. Her notebooks on art history include notes as well as a collection of black and white prints used to help identify artwork.

Clara's notebooks for her food preparation and cookery classes are of particular interest because along with her handwritten notes she has pasted into her notebooks rules for the cooking laboratory, guidelines for kitchen proctors and dish washers, and each day's lessons. The lessons are essentially recipes that each student must prepare and then, in some cases, answer several questions about the process. The lessons cover a range of topics such as preparing coffees and teas, making sauces, preparing a variety of vegetable dishes, cooking meats, creating desserts, and eventually preparing entire meals.

Roy Little's notebooks include his handwritten notes from several classes he took while studying animal husbandry. Some of the courses he took include soil fertility, beef and pork production, and a veterinary course on livestock sanitation and disease prevention. He also took a herd book study course taught by H. H. Kildee, who would later become Dean of Agriculture at Iowa State.

Roy's farm diaries record his farming activities from 1912 to 1917. One of the diaries has very sporadic entries from later years. In the diaries, Little maps out his farm and identifies how each portion of land was used. Most entries start with a short comment on the day's weather. He then describes the farm work accomplished that day and often notes any supplies or machinery purchased along with the cost. He also records some personal activities, such as when he goes visiting or he goes into town for an event. Most entries are relatively short, consisting of a few sentences, and he rarely writes more than is necessary to briefly describe the events of the day.

The collection is arranged alphabetically.