This microfilm contains correspondence concerning the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806. The letters discuss financial matters of Biddle's publication and the Lewis and Clark manuscripts and the specimens collected on the expedition.

The letters concern a variety of topics, the most significant being Canada, geography, Indigenous peoples, paleontology, geology, and the Geological Survey of Canada. Correspondents include Franz Boas, Elliot Cones, William Isbister, J. M. LeMoine, James C. Pilling, and E. F. S. J. Petitot.

This correspondence concerning the survey of western lands was received by the United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region. Also includes a selection of letters sent by the Survey (1876-1878).

The collection is a miscellaneous group of letters of mainly British scientists and physicians, purchased as an existing autograph collection. There are a few American signatures. The letters are primarily from the nineteenth century and focus on medical and geological topics, but also there are some earlier and later dates. In addition to the letters are anatomical drawings of surgery, sketches of bones, and one geological notebook.

Though the Miscellaneous Manuscripts collection is composed of items that do not fall readily into any other existing collection, the two dominant intellectual areas represented in the collection are Early American History and History of Science.