The records are manuscript accounts, originally kept as loose documents but later bound into a single volume (which has subsequently been disbound for microfilming purposes). Many aspects of the early municipal government are documented in these records, from the inauguration of a street lighting program to operations of the city's markets. Included are lists of bar room owners, billiard table owners, butcher shop owners, operators of meat and fish stands, and owners of shacks and market stalls on the levee. Also included are lists of ships in the river (with ports of origin and names of captains noted), ships in Bayou St. John (with destinations and names of owners/captains noted), and ships bringing sugar and rum into the port (with ports of origin and names of captains noted).

A typescript transcription and English translation of these documents was prepared by the WPA while they were on loan to the Louisiana State Museum. That typescript, which is indexed both by general subjects and by personal names, is available at the Museum's Historical Center.