These are letters to and from Correia da Serra collected by Richard Beale Davis.

These letters and documents concern primarily the American Colony of Göttingen, including a record book containing historical data on the group (1855-1888), and the Algonquin, Choctaw, Illinois, and Naragansett Indian languages. Includes letters of: B. A. Gould, F. R. Hassler, Gauss, Sir Joseph Banks, J. F. Blumenbach.

These papers include diaries (1777-1782), expense books (1794-1804), notebooks, a commonplace book, drafts of essays, excerpts from minutes of Friends' Monthly Meeting, Tortola (1741-1761), newspaper clippings, sketches, and correspondence. Also included are letters and papers of Mrs. Thornton.

This collection is comprised of materials from seven repositories and includes correspondence from Banks' colleagues and explorers, such as John Hope, Josiah Wedgwood, Georg Forster, and Captain William Bligh; records of expenses for voyages and journeys; and journals kept during voyages to New Foundland and Labrador (1766) and around the world with Captain James Cook (1768-1771). Topics include botany and horticulture, marine life, and collecting specimens.