 Along with the ledgers, they provide insight into the day-to-day operations of a football club over the decades.The earliest letter in the collection dates back to 6 March 1888 in which the secretary of Aston Villa invited Everton to play a match at Birmingham later in the month in a hand-written letter.While the letters shed some light on the transfers of Tony Kay, Dai Davies, Rod Belfitt and Alex Young, as well as many others, they were also used to comply with FA regulations in which teams had to provide their opponents with a list of all eligible players for FA Cup semi-finals and finals.