The major portion of this correspondence deals with the controversy which arose when Benjamin Peirce, after having seen the manuscript of Warner's "Studies in Organic Morphology" (Philadelphia, 1857), read a paper on morphology before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1855). Other topics discussed include the alleged "Harvard clique," the administration of the Dudley Observatory (Albany, N.Y.), and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

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.