The largest portion of correspondence is with Charles Edwin Bessy on botanical matters, including botanical publications in the United States and Europe, and plants and shell specimens.

This is a small but diverse collection documenting Wheatley's interests in mines and mining technology, paleontology, mineralogy, and shells. There are sketches of Wheatley's mine near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania; estimates of costs of machinery, and a list of furnace products sent to the Centennial Exposition.