This account, written on brown paper wrappers by Sister Benvin Sansbury, tells the history of the Dominican Sisters in Ohio, one of the oldest congregations in the United States. The annals are seven pages long and measure 7.9 x 8 inches (20.06 x 20.29 cm).

Founded in 1822 in Kentucky, the order attracted native-born women interested in teaching and becoming part of an "Order of Preachers." In 1830, Bishop of Cincinnati Edward Fenwick requested that members of the order start a school in Somerset, Ohio. Sr. Benvin Sansbury, Sr. Emily Elder, Sr. Agnes Harbin, and Sr. Catherine Mudd arrived in Somerset on February 5, 1830 after a four-week trip. They established St. Mary's Female Academy, which offered education to both Catholics and non-Catholics. The annals discuss the journey made by the nuns, the frontier conditions they encountered in Ohio, the building constructed for their use, the sisters who joined the original four in Somerset, and the support of the people of Somerset and Lancaster for the school. The account includes a mention of Mrs. Ewing, whose daughter Ellen attended the school. Ellen later became the wife of William T. Sherman.

St. Mary's Academy burned in 1866, forcing the sisters to occupy borrowed space until 1868, when Columbus businessman Theodore Leonard offered to donate land in the capital city to the order. The sisters opened a school, which educated Leonard's five daughters and other girls in central Ohio until 1966. Because the land that Leonard donated to the congregation had numerous natural springs, the name of the school and the order became St. Mary of the Springs.