Circa 160 transcripts prepared for publication in Alan Armstrong, ed. Selected correspondence.

These are copies of letters, chiefly relating to the American Philosophical Society, from Peter S. Du Ponceau, John Vaughan, and James Mease. There are a few original letters, one to Benjamin Franklin Peale.

This is a small group of letters written to Johann Ambrosius Beurer, J. von Sprehelson, and Christoph Jacob Trew.

These letters are to William Hepworth Dixon, who was editor of the "Athenaeum," a journal of literature, science, the fine arts, music, and drama, from 1871 to 1900. They concern current publications and publishing expenses, Michael Faraday, astronomy, perspective, M. F. Maury, P. B. Du Chaillu, all in relation to the "Athenaeum" or letters to the editor thereof.

This volume contains extracts, chiefly in an unknown hand (probably Charles Waterton), from Ord's letters, 1831-1835, criticizing Audubon as a man and as a naturalist. Ord wrote the last part of the volume (signed and dated June 29, 1838), and there are manuscript comments by Charles Waterton.

All but one of these letters are to Charles Alston, the professor of botany at Edinburgh University, and concern medicine, botany, and science in general. They are dated between 1737 and 1750. One letter is to George Whately, dated 1778.

Written by William Alexander at Basking Ridge, New Jersey, March 27, 1773, this essay appeals to the American Philosophical Society to collect and publish astronomical observations. It was sent to the American Philosophical Society, where it was duly read in May 1773.

These manuscripts are in the hand of various unknown authors, and concern research and observations on the torpedo fish, which was of much interest to those studying electricity at the time. Included are copies of letters from John Walsh to Benjamin Franklin, and a copy of a Walsh and Thomas Pennant letter, read before the Royal Society (1774), concerning a torpedo fish found off the coast of England.

This material relates to Alexander B. Grosart's biography of Wilson. There are notes and copies of letters and documents, including a copy of Wilson's will. There is one poem by Wilson, "The Last Wish," and an 1806 letter to William Bartram.

Miscellaneous letters from and to Benjamin Smith Barton, Nicholas Collin, Henry Muhlenberg, Jeremy Belknap, Monsieur Le Roi, and a broadside by Robert Aitken. These letters concern botany and zoology in the U.S., England, and on the Continent, and mention contemporary figures as well as the American Philosophical Society.

This is primarily a collection of letters and manuscripts sent to Wistar by prominent men who were among his many correspondents. These documents reflect his broad interests, including botany, paleontology, medicine, the American Philosophical Society, and André Michaux's plans for exploring the Missouri.

The primary correspondence (ca. 65 letters) is with William Cooper (1798-1864) on Bonaparte's publications, especially "American Ornithology" and "Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology," but also included are many references to American and European men of science and learned societies. There are also letters to Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, George Robert Gray, Titian Ramsay Peale, and Wilhelm P. S. Rüppell.

Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864, APS 1805) was a scientist and educator. As a professor of chemistry at Yale University from 1802 to 1853, and pioneering teacher of chemistry, mineralogy and geology, Silliman was largely responsible for the conversion of Yale College to Yale University, with strong medical and scientific departments.

These letters concern various scientific subjects, such as fishes, insects, snakes, mice, fossils, and mosses. Other subjects include learned institutions, notably the Smithsonian Institution and the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and men of science. Correspondents include S. S. Haldeman, Walter J. Hoffman, Spencer F. Baird, Edward D. Cope, and Leo Lesquereux.

These papers include letters on natural history, metals and mineralogy, botany, insects, the geological survey of New York, and analyses of distilled liquors in the cause of temperance.

The collection is divided into two series. The first contains disparate letters from Airy relating to his publications and his position as Astronomer Royal of England, with mentions of topics such as: electrical experiments, magnets, Observatoire de Paris, stars, and telescopes. Correspondents in this series include: Edward Wedlake Brayley, James Challis, Alexander S. Herschel, Balfour Stewart, Septimus Tebay, John Washington. The second series features a group of documents put together by George May of the Harton Colliery at South Shields (1889) relating to Airy's pendulum experiments at Harton Pit in 1854 to measure the density of the earth.

Correspondence compiled by Edward E. Wildman and Francis D. West, chiefly from original letters in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and other depositories, 1956.

Nine of these letters are addressed to Sir Alexander Dick of Edinburgh (1763-1768), and relate to Morgan's medical studies, his travels on the Continent, and the founding of the medical department of the College of Physicians. These are copies of originals in possession of Mrs. Dick Cunyngham, Prestonfield House, Edinburgh. In addition there are letters from Morgan to: Petrus Camper, William Smith, Samuel Vaughan, Jr.; and from Peter Collinson to Camper; Camper to Morgan; S. Vaughan Jr. to Camper; and an exchange between Christian F. Michaelis and Camper. These concern Morgan, with mentions of fossils (mastodon bones in America), natural history, comments on Franklin, Jefferson, and Angelica Kauffmann. These are from originals in the Petrus Camper Papers, on deposit (1976) at the University of Amsterdam Library.

The collection of about 850 items covers the period from 1782 to c. 1936, with the bulk dating to the 1780s to 1840s. The collection is divided into four series. Series I contains correspondence relating to a wide variety of topics, including French and English politics, business, trade, religious matters, and personal affairs. Many of the items are letters of introduction. There is also information on John Vaughan's immigration to America, Joseph Priestley, vaccines and inoculation (with Jefferson's comments on the same), Vaughan's business in Philadelphia, and the American Philosophical Society. Also included in this series are 2 boxes with copies of Vaughan correspondence as well as miscellaneous notes by E. W. Madeira, gathered in the course of his research on Vaughan in the 1930s. Series II consists of three volumes. Included are two of Vaughan's commonplace books. One, entitled, "J. Vaughan's book," May 17, 1779 (47 pp., in Latin; 870/L34), includes mostly Latin notations. The other commonplace book, dated 1783 (ca. 66 pp.; B V 462.c), includes comments on several prominent Americans, such as Benjamin Rush and David Rittenhouse, as well as American society generally. The third volume is a copybook with thirty letters spanning the period 1784 to 1801 (B V462.1). Series III includes material relating to Vaughan's administration of the estate of the Philadelphia merchant Samuel Merrick, 1796-1822 (Vaughan-Merrick Papers, B V462.m; 2 boxes). Series IV consists of correspondence between Vaughan and the DuPont Co. for which he served as agent (B V462.4; photocopies of 73 letters).

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.