The ‘Turner letters’, held by Bedfordshire Archives as part of the Z629 and Z1656/7 series, comprise fifty-nine individual items, mainly correspondence, but also some invoices from suppliers and shippers which provide insights into Thomas Turner's commercial activities. Also included, with permission, are transcripts of two letters held in the collection of the Tides Institute & Museum of Art, Eastport, Maine, United States of America. The majority of the letters are addressed to Thomas Turner at St Andrews, New Brunswick, but there are also seven to his wife, Susannah Turner, and one each to Maria Pain, Thomas Turner's mother-in-law, and the shipper, C. G. Barry.

The most prolific correspondent to Thomas Turner was his brother, John Turner II, twenty-eight of whose letters survive. John stayed in Milton Ernest when Thomas emigrated, initially as a baker and then running the family farm. John's letters are lengthy, accompanying ‘notes’ (in effect, abbreviated diaries) providing detailed vignettes of farming and village life, as well as commenting on national events or issues which caught his interest or caused him concern, including electoral reform (the 1832 Reform Act), the reform of the Poor Laws, the Beer Act, Chartism, rural unrest and incendiarism and the 1831–32 cholera epidemic.

Other correspondents included: John Turner I (father of John II and Thomas); Maria Pain (Susannah Turner's mother); Maria Lovell (Susannah Turner's sister); Ann and Whitbread Odell (John and Thomas Turner's sister and brother-in-law); William Hart (family friend and official in the Comptroller's Office, Westminster); George Allison Pain (Susannah Turner's brother, a chemist, living in Cambridge); William Austin Groocock (supplier to Thomas Turner and shipper); C. G. Barry (supplier and shipper); and John Clements (a Canadian trader).

Some letters lack an address panel and/or postal charges or transit markings. It was common for letters overseas to be included with goods or in parcels, or entrusted to travellers, to avoid high charges for postage.

The table below lists the sixty-one items transcribed. ‘From’ and ‘to’ are as per the original designations on the letters. Under ‘Source’, ‘Z629/…’ or ‘Z1656/7/…’ is indicated the individual reference number of items held and catalogued by Bedfordshire Archives. ‘TIMA’ refers to the transcripts of letters in the collection of the Tides Institute & Museum of Art (TIMA).