The original arrangement has been preserved wherever it could be seen; the financial year begins mostly at Martinmas, occasionally at 31 December or 1 September; each year`s vouchers are divided into branches (variable, but mostly including debts repaid, interest paid, public and parochial burdens, payments to the family, estate and household expenses, management expenses); where the original order within each branch is not indicated by endorsements, a chronological sequence has been imposed. Between the death of Laurence Blair Oliphant in 1819 and that of his widow in 1827, vouchers relating to Mrs Oliphant and to her estate of Ardblair are separated from those relating to Gask.