These papers include correspondence to Sabine, and miscellaneous accounts, receipts, and military records.

This is professional correspondence to and from Sabine and numerous scientists, including H. Lloyd and James C. Ross.

These papers include letters from Admiral C.R. Moorson, correspondence with James Ross and Edward Sabine concerning polar exploration, and a map of the stars near the North Pole.

These are letters to Quetelet primarily on the subject of astronomy (meteorological observations), including charts showing directions of shooting stars.

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.

This collection contains miscellaneous letters and papers relating to explorations of South America, Cuba, and Mexico; scientific investigations; Latin American antiquities and linguistics; and publications. There are also copies of 26 letters from Humboldt to Pierre Hyacinth Azais and Jules Berger de Xivrey, from originals at the Duke University Medical Center Library.

This collection includes letters to and from Americans (including South America and the West Indies) and letters about America selected from the Society's manuscripts (Classified Papers, Letter Books, Letters and Papers, Royal Society Letters, Miscellaneous Correspondence, and other official groups) and from collections of private papers (Sir Charles Blagden, William Buckland, John Canton, Sir John F. W. Herschel, Sir Edward Sabine, and others). The documents range in time and character from John Winthrop, Jr., "A Description of the Artifice & Making of Tarr & Pitch in New England" (1662), to letters from Sir Thomas Edward Thorne to his wife describing the American West, where he was on a surveying party in the 1880s.

There is correspondence concerning geology, botany, natural history, natural selection, evolution, British science and scientists, and other scientific topics. Most of the letters are written by Lyell, with a very few items by others.