The arrangement of the papers follows 200 years of the Rhodes family, generation after generation, beginning with Mr. and Mrs. Peter Rhodes in the 1770s and ending with Catherine (Rhodes) Tudor-Hart in the 1970s.

It should be noted that the papers of an individual within the arrangement comprise letters written to him/her, that is, ‘in-letters’, and copies (not the ones sent) of letters written by him/her. Although there are exceptions, the usual procedure is to place letters by a family member with the papers of the person to whom a letter is written. In other words, letters by William Rhodes to Peter Rhodes are arranged and listed with the papers of Peter Rhodes.

An exception to this procedure is the correspondence of Catherine (Rhodes) Tudor-Hart. She had organized and titled her correspondence according to her own needs and this system, under the heading ‘Correspondence files, Catherine and Percyval Tudor-Hart and Family’ has been maintained.

In cases where the papers and those of an estate that is, when the person has died, they are included with those papers of the executor of the estate, in the Rhodes papers the executor being a family member. Therefore, for example, the papers of the William Rhodes II estate are arranged and listed with the ‘Business and Estate’ papers of Godfrey W. Rhodes, who was executor of his father William’s estate.

The additional category at the end of the papers (boxes 20 and 21) contains miscellaneous business letters and receipts of Godfrey Rhodes and Catherine and Percyval Tudor-Hart, mainly relating to the running of the estate ‘Cataraqui’ during the period 1910-1970.