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This collection is made up of over 40 printed reports, manuscript letters, and manuscript notes related to Clements R. Markham, a British geographer who traveled in South America and India in the mid-19th century. Among other subjects, the material concerns Markham's attempt to cultivate cinchona plants in India, as well as the Amazon basin and rainforest.

This collection is made up of over 40 printed reports, manuscript letters, and manuscript notes related to Clements R. Markham, a British geographer who traveled in South America and India in the mid-19th century. Among other subjects, the manuscripts concern Markham's attempt to cultivate cinchona plants in India, and it contains notes on the Amazon basin and rainforest.

The bulk of the collection pertains to Markham's work with Great Britain's India Office in the 1860s, including a lengthy printed report and supplementary memoranda about his efforts to introduce the cinchona plant, native to Peru, to India. Other reports and memoranda concern Indian coffee plantations, cotton production, oyster fisheries, and irrigation projects. The volume also includes descriptions of the Suez region, Abyssinia, and Bombay. Manuscript notes and translations in the back of the volume largely pertain to South America, including letters to Markham from an acquaintance in Lima, Peru, and notes on the missionary work of Antonio Machoni. Other manuscripts concern the Amazon region, cocoa plantations, the Napo River, and an Arctic expedition. The documents are calendared and indexed.

This collection is made up of correspondence and photographs related to James Shearer's life in South America in 1921 and 1922 as an agent for the Bay City Industrial Works. Shearer's letters to his family concern his trip from New York to Chile; daily life and customs in Santiago, Chile, and other locations; and visits to Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil.

This collection is made up of correspondence and photographs related to James Shearer's travels and life in South America in 1921 and 1922.

The Correspondence series (67 items) includes letters that Shearer wrote to his family in Bay City, Michigan, between June 27, 1921, and September 3, 1922. Shearer's first letters concern his voyage from New York City to Santiago, Chile, by way of the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Ecuador, and Peru; he described his trip through the canal and other aspects of the locales he passed or visited. The bulk of the correspondence pertains to Shearer's life in Santiago, Chile, which he discussed in his frequent letters to his mother and, less often, his sister-in-law Winifred. He wrote about local customs and language, his work and the economy, historical influences on Chilean culture, and other aspects of his daily life. Shearer traveled in Peru and Bolivia in February and March 1922 and briefly returned to Santiago before traveling by railroad to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in June 1922. He compared Buenos Aires to Santiago and mentioned his attempts to locate potential clients for the Industrial Works of Bay City, Michigan. In the fall of 1922, he also wrote from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Writings series (2 items) includes an undated description of the collection's contents written by Shearer, with brief notes about his work at the time, and a typed article regarding earthquakes in Coquimbo and La Serena, Chile.

The Photographs and Postcards series (77 items) consists of 40 photographic prints, 28 picture postcards, and 9 photographic negatives; the negatives correspond to a group of prints. The photographs, which include Shearer's captions, show scenes from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, including views of the Coquimbo harbor, views of railroad lines running through mountains, overhead views of cities and surrounding scenery, and street-level pictures of buildings and street scenes. Some images feature groups of people and, in one instance, a flock of llamas; 3 show a well-dressed man holding open a very large, manuscript musical book. The series includes a portrait of James Shearer from his South American trip and a formal portrait of Shearer taken in 1956. The postcards, many of which have captions by Shearer, feature pictures of Santiago landmarks; Chilean railroads; the town of Sewell, Chile; Chilean women; a mountain monument in Mendoza, Argentina; La Paz, Bolivia; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Some of the postcards and photographs have numbers written on the back that appear to correspond to Shearer's letters.

The USS New Jersey journal and postcard album collection consists of a log book kept by a crew member of the USS New Jersey battleship during its participation in the Great White Fleet from 1907 to 1909 as well as an album of postcards collected from locations visited during the voyage.

The USS New Jersey journal and postcard album collection consists of a logbook kept by a crew member of the USS New Jersey battleship during its participation in the Great White Fleet from 1907 to 1909 as well as an album of postcards collected from locations visited during the voyage.

Volume one (21.5 x 13.5 cm) is a sailor's personal logbook kept aboard the USS New Jersey from December 16th, 1907, to February 22nd, 1909. Joseph J. [Sulinski], one of 812 crew members, is listed as the author. Detailed entries describe speeches, daily life, notable events, and various aspects of the places visited over the course of the voyage. The logbook has line breaks whenever a new location is being discussed, and clippings and souvenirs associated with each location have been added in throughout. The entries made at locations where the USS New Jersey was anchored for extended periods of time are the most detailed, yet there are also thorough descriptions of day-long visits to places such as Valparaiso, Chile. Entries of note include a description of a “Crossing of the Equator” ceremony held on January 2nd 1908, remarks on the currency exchange process in Rio di Janeiro, a description of the return back across the equator, an account of a boxing match between crewmembers of rival ships in Los Angeles in April 1908, and a passage regarding an act of vengeance undertaken by crew members after they felt they were overcharged for supplies in Santa Barbara. Also of interest are entries regarding the death of Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet Admiral Charles M. Thomas, the deaths of two crewmembers in Melbourne, and the deaths of one crewmember who was lost at sea in a storm near Manila and another who was lost near Singapore. Notes about the voyage end on page 62 and are followed by a series of clippings that range from images of battleships to Philadelphia history, news about the Great White Fleet, and cartoons.

Volume two (26 x 20.25 cm) contains approximately 300 color postcards collected over the course of the Great White Fleet’s voyage around the world. The postcards begin with Trinidad and progress through various locations such as Rio de Janeiro, Marseille, Lima, Mexico City, California, Hawaii, Sydney, Melbourne, Manila, Yokohama, Tokyo, Badulla, Egypt, Sheffield, Cherbourg, and Messina. Also present are postcards depicting the USS Kansas, the overall course of the entire voyage up until July 1908, views of the Great White Fleet on Japanese postcards, and commemorative postcards involving the crew. While most of the postcards are blank, there are a few sentimental ones addressed to a Joseph Schlegel who seems to have resided in a number of U.S. military bases as well as Almont, Pennsylvania.