Better known to the English-speaking world by the name under which he published most of his works, Jean-Hyacinthe Magellan, João Jacinto de Magalhães was born on November 4, 1722. His work focused primarily on scientific instruments, and is credited with introducing English scientific instruments, and the work of Joseph Priestley (APS member 1785) to the scientific community in France. The João Jacinto de Magalhães Collection consists of eleven letters written by Magalhães in French, and addressed to correspondents in France dealing primarily with the manufacture and distribution of telescopes and optical instrumentation.

The collection is divided into two series. The first contains disparate letters from Airy relating to his publications and his position as Astronomer Royal of England, with mentions of topics such as: electrical experiments, magnets, Observatoire de Paris, stars, and telescopes. Correspondents in this series include: Edward Wedlake Brayley, James Challis, Alexander S. Herschel, Balfour Stewart, Septimus Tebay, John Washington. The second series features a group of documents put together by George May of the Harton Colliery at South Shields (1889) relating to Airy's pendulum experiments at Harton Pit in 1854 to measure the density of the earth.