The Owen L. Coon Scrapbook began as a record of Coon's years at Northwestern University. Nearly half of the scrapbook does document Coon's college life between 1912 and 1919. However, the balance of the scrapbook is filled with clippings, photographs, and ephemera that precede and postdate Coon's Northwestern years—including items from Coon's youth in Rantoul and from his travels in Europe, as well as general Coon family photographs and memorabilia.