File consists of approximately 20 medicinal recipes. Most are addressed to Mrs. S. A. Warde. Medical conditions specifically addressed by some of the recipes include: inflamed eyes, sore throat, weakness, inflammation of the chest or windpipe, liver complaints. The majority of recipes are undated, but some dates noted are 1805, 1810, 1814 (a recipe for a draught prepared by Dr. J. Simpson, written in Latin), 1824, 1829, and 1832.

Series consists of approximately 300 culinary, medical, and household recipes dating from roughly the 1780s through the 1850s. Recipes are handwritten in multiple late 18th- and early 19th-century hands on papers of varying sizes, including many small fragments. Medical recipes consist of doctors' prescriptions and various formulae for making and using medicines. Household recipes and instructions are found for products such as polishes, cleaning solutions, and dyes, and activities such as clothes washing. Culinary recipes, the largest category of recipes, are found for a variety of dishes and ingredients, including multiple recipes for puddings, wines, jellies, cakes, gingerbreads, vinegars, biscuits, yeast, pickled dishes, and preserved fruits.
Many contain attributions by the recipe writers, listing the creator or provenance of the recipe. Some recipes also feature names of addressees. Many of these are addressed to Mrs. Warde and appear to be recipes that were either sent to her or solicited by her from friends and acquaintances. One document that postdates the rest of the items in the series is a bill (1950) addressed to Mrs. Warde-Aldam (MSG 1231-2-9).

File consists of approximately 40 chiefly undated recipes for household preparations and medical remedies, on varying sizes of paper. Also included are 4 letters: one is addressed to Miss Taylor and includes a recipe on the verso in a different hand (1848); one is a crossed letter; one is addressed to Mrs. Aldam, Frickley Hall, from a food producer regarding pressing walnuts and supplying anchovies (1860); and the last is addressed "Dear Warde" and includes a recipe for blackberry wine. The majority of recipes included in the file feature household preparations such as various colours of dye, washing solutions, soap, and directions for painting in oil. Other documents include a sheet of figures and price list. The medical formulas in the file include: barley water, tinctures, camphor mixture, magnesia and bark medicines, sore throat treatment, and a treatment against infection. The one culinary recipes in the file is for lemon blancmange. One clipping from the "Morning Herald" (1781) provides a remedy for consumption. One longer clipping from a London newspaper features recipes for potatoes and cabbage (1780s?). Two documents appear to be knitting patterns (one is for a knitted petticoat). One later document in the file is a bill and receipt addressed to Mrs. Warde-Aldam from a tobacconists shop.

The collection consists of fifteen volumes, primarily manuscript with some printed, containing over 1,300 culinary and medical handwritten recipes, plus numerous loose recipes also mainly manuscript. The documents in the collection originated chiefly from the Doncaster area of South Yorkshire, centred on Hooten Pagnell Hall. Many of the manuscripts and notes are signed by or addressed to Sarah Anne Warde. Series 1 comprises the fifteen bound volumes, two of which are printed works by female authors, while the remaining thirteen are manuscript notebooks. Two of these manuscript notebooks are attributed to Sarah Anne Warde, while one is attributed to Eliza Smithson. The manuscript attributed to Eliza Smithson contains table setting riddles (also known as an enigmatical bill of fare). Loose recipes are found in Series 2. This series consists of approximately 300 culinary, medical, and household recipes dating from roughly the 1780s through the 1850s.

File consists of approximately 65 undated chiefly culinary recipes, with some medical content. Some recipes are included as parts of letters addressed to Mrs. Williamson. One recipe is signed by Mrs. Warde (carrot pudding). Some dishes represented in the recipes include: marmelade, raisin wine, yeast (3 recipes), apple jelly, beer, preserved eggs, spanish, spanish butter, blancmange, rice balls, biscuits, scotch eggs, and brandy cream. There is also one loose recipe for furniture polish. One item in the file is a soft bound notebook containing 7 leaves with recipes for mulligatawny soup, veal, fowl, and mutton dishes, Flemish soup, muffin pudding, "pease pudding", black pudding, and lemon pudding. The last page includes with medical recipes, including vinegar, a remedy for gout, and a treatment to prevent infection.

File consists of approximately 30 chiefly undated recipes. They are mostly culinary, with two notable medicinal preparations and one household recipe. Some recipes are written on paper fragments. One is dated 1854 (a recipe for chamomile tea). Some feature names, including one with the name of "Mrs. Smithson, [Ridworth?] House." Some dishes featured in the recipes include: puddings, blancmange, lobster, Spanish kidneys, "Doctor Cheney's breakfast cakes," apricot recipes, beef tea, tomato sauce, cowslip wine (two), "gateau de poireau," fish sauces, spiced ham, and green gooseberry wine. Two medicinal preparations include carrigeen cough drops and a recipe for a "tea-spoonful of powdered charcoal," for digestive complaints. Also included is a recipe to clean varnish.

File contains approximately 38 undated culinary recipes, also including some medicinal content and household preparations. Some feature attributions to the recipe's creator, for example: "Mrs. Coates recipe to make mince pye." One recipe is folded as a letter addressed to Mrs. Warde with a personal note from Mr. and Mrs. Payne. Dishes featured in the recipes include: puddings, a variety of gingerbreads, calf's head, raisin wine, orange brandy, orange syrup, ginger beer, porter jelly, buns and rolls, pickled walnuts, omelet, cocoa nibs, chutneys, and gooseberry vinegar. Medicinal and household preparations include barley water, a recipe "for washing silks and satins," and some unidentified preparations using ingredients such as rose water, myrrh, and spirits.

File contains approximately 35 undated culinary recipes, and 2 medicinal recipes. The file also includes 2 letters addressed to Mrs. Warde. One is from F. M. Coldwell and refers to losing her recipes (letter partially crossed). The second contains a recipe for "gateau de pomme." Another letter with enclosed recipes for nougat, macaroon, and "everlasting cakes" is marked from Mrs. Warde. Some dishes represented in the recipes include: arrowroot blancmange, biscuits, buns, shortcakes, apple wine, porter, lemon cake, marbled beef, and mock oyster sauce. One large bifolium contains multiple recipes addressed to "my sis," including: "good lemmon caudle, at a winter supper," kidney toasts, "to dress a calves chitterling," "to fry calves feet," frigacy calves feet, summer Brawn (calves head), quince cream, "barberry jelly and marmaled," currant jelly, pickle capsicum (with the personal annotation: "Mrs. George Cooke, Mr. Warde's Aunt, a better houswife lived not in her neighbourhood"), lemon jelly, lemon and orange cream, and egg butter. Two loose recipes appear to be medical in nature, including one to treat dropsy.

File consists of approximately 15 chiefly culinary recipes, with one recipe for making a poultice and another that appears medical in nature. Recipes include: brawn, pickles, Christmas melon, preserved melon, pineapple wine, puddings, elder wine or English Port, rhubarb jam. File also includes one clipping from the General Evening Post featuring a preserved fruit recipe.

File consists of 29 undated culinary recipes, many of which are on fragments of paper. Some appear to have been folded and sent as letters. One such example is addressed to Mrs. Warde (recipe for drop biscuits). One features the remains of a red wax seal. Some dishes featured in the recipes include: a variety of puddings, giblet soup, preserved mulberries, a variety of vinegars (gooseberry, rose, crab, primrose), butterscotch, cowslip wine, gingerbread, and potted trout.