Robert Cushman Murphy was not only one of the twentieth century's great ornithologists, but also one of his field's most-ranging travelers. Visiting every continent—with the notable exclusion of Africa and the notable inclusion of Antarctica—Murphy's diaries and journals, which number at least 36 volumes, offer nearly six decades (1912-1971) of detailed observations of Australia, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Those volumes include glimpses of the Florida everglades in the early-twentieth century ("Florida Fisheries, 1919"), post-war London ("European Trip, May - August 1950"), postcolonial India ("Around the World: A Circumnavigation"), and Antarctica in the early-1960s ("Operation Deep Freeze: Antarctic Cruise, 1960"). Although Murphy proves most adept in his observations of wild life, he also captures a sense of the people and places he encounters through the generous inclusion of ephemera such as newspaper clippings, photographs, postcards, programs, and sketches. In fact, many of his later journals more closely resemble scrapbooks than diaries. Perhaps most notably, Murphy maintains a journal related to one of the last whaling voyages by sailboat in the Atlantic, "The Way of the Sperm Whaler" (June 1912-1913). In addition to typed and handwritten entries feature with detailed technical data on processing whales at sea, Murphy includes dozens of original photos, and a wealth of ephemera, including even a piece of sperm whale skin. (The American Philosophical Society also possesses the signed publication of the journal, A Dead Whale or a Stove Boat, 1967.) Read in tandem with the Grace E. Barstow Murphy diaries (Mss.B.M957.g), researchers will discover a textured record of mid-century conservation.