A small collection rich in imagery, the Ellen Lehman Native American Photograph Collection consists of 19 albumen prints of late nineteenth-century Native American leaders on cabinet cards. The bulk of the images date from the 1880s and portray important members of the Dakota Indian tribes, many of whom fought against the 7th Cavalry of the U.S. Army at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Among the leaders depicted are: Sitting Bull, Gall, Rain in the Face, Crow King, and White Bull. The collection also includes two images of Geronimo, the Bedonkohe Apache leader who resisted Mexican and American expansion in the Southwest in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The majority of the photographs in the collection were taken by David Francis Barry, with Orlando Scott Goff and George W. Scott also contributing.

George Ord made important contributions as an ornithologist and writer but is also famous for his contempt of fellow ornithologist John James Audubon. Throughout his life he published numerous scientific articles and assisted in completing Alexander Wilson's life's work, American Ornithology; or, The Natural History of the Birds of the United States. Ord also left his mark as a member of the American Philosophical Society and as the president of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia. The George Ord collection consists primarily of outgoing personal correspondence to Charles Waterton ranging from 1831 to 1866 that highlights Ord's professional as well as personal affairs, most notably his hostility toward Audubon. The collection is supplemented by correspondence of Ord's to and from various individuals regarding personal and business matters.