A collection of letters (family and professional), notebooks, diaries, lectures, articles, and photographs, of Smith, a noted American geographer who influenced the teaching of geography after 1920 through his many elementary texts. There is much material relating to these writings. His contributions to the rise of human geography and the related areas of conservation and ecology, are documented. His study in Europe under Friedrich Ratzel, at Leipzig in 1901-1912, is touched on in his journal for those years; included are many interesting observations on German university life. There is also much material on his nursery business in Virginia. Organizational files are numerous, e.g. Association of American Geographers, Columbia University, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Much of the correspondence is limited to only a few letters from each correspondent. Among the names included are: Willard G. Bixby, Isaiah Bowman, John W. Hershey, Emory R. Johnson, Walter C. Lowdermilk (of particular note is his 1926 paper, written while at the University of Nanking, "Forest Conservation in Shansi, China"), and Lewis Mumford.

The Charles Christopher Adams papers include correspondence, diaries, field notes, manuscripts, and photographs, all reflecting Adams' interests in biology, ecology and human ecology, geography, and zoology. The field notebooks are extensive, spanning the years 1888-1948. Of special interest are those on the Adirondack regions, 1919-1948 (2 boxes) and from his Latin American trip of 1948. The photographs are both family and professional, with many from his numerous field trips. Of significance are the photos and negatives from the Roosevelt Wild Life Experiment Station (N.Y. State College, Syracuse) and from the University of Montana Biological Station at Flathead Lake, Montana (1913). There is much personal correspondence with Wilda P. Mackenzie. A part of the collection pertains to his daughter, Harriet Adams, including exchanges with the Charles C. Adams Center for Ecological Studies at Western Michigan University, and her unfinished biography of her father.

Robert Cushman Murphy (1887-1973), one of the twentieth century's great ornithologists, was curator of mammals and birds at the Brooklyn Museum (1911-1917) and was curator of birds and later chairman of birds at the American Museum of Natural History (1917-1973). The world's foremost authority on sea birds, in 1936, he penned Oceanic Birds of South America, a two volume set. An ardent traveler and explorer, he kept copious notes of his travels, which he typed up, illustrated and had bound. The APS library owns forty-two bound journals. Murphy was made an APS member in 1946. A pioneer in the study of the ecology, a louse, fish, plant, lizard, an Antarctic inlet, spider, and two mountains have acquired his name. This collection contains diaries, journals, articles, addresses and observations of Murph;, generously illustrated with newspaper clippings, photographs, letters, sketches, maps, and charts.