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This collection consists of condolence letters, newspaper scrapbooks, a letter book, a published memorial volume, and a photograph album related to John M. Francis of Troy, New York, and to his son Charles. The letters, which are addressed to Charles Francis, express sympathy following his father's death in June 1897; the memorial volume contains biographical sketches and published tributes to John M. Francis; and the newspaper scrapbooks chronicle John M. Francis's travels around Europe and the world between 1869 and 1876.

This collection (1 linear foot) consists of condolence letters, newspaper scrapbooks, a letter book, and a published memorial volume related to John M. Francis of Troy, New York, and to his son Charles.

The Condolence Letters series contains 211 items addressed to Charles S. Francis between June 5, 1897, and January 18, 1898. One letter from Hallie M. Brown concerns her regret about missing an opportunity to visit, and the remaining correspondence is made up of letters expressing the authors' condolences after the death of John M. Francis on June 18, 1897. Writers included Charles Francis's friends and family members and John Francis's personal and professional acquaintances. Many writers reminisced about their relationships with John M. Francis and shared stories about their experiences at the Troy Daily Times.

The Letter Book, Scrapbooks, and Published Memorial series (6 volumes) pertains to John M. Francis's travels around the United States, Europe, and Asia in the 1870s and to Charles S. Francis's career and business affairs. Four scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings of letters that John M. Francis sent to the Troy Daily Times while traveling abroad. Each contains lengthy descriptions of local people, customs, politics, architecture, geography, and history, and some also have accounts of transoceanic and transcontinental travel.

• Western Europe, June 12, 1869-October 15, 1869, including England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and France (21 letters; 38 pages)
• Western and Southern Europe, July 18, 1871-December 28, 1871 (published August 2, 1871-January 3, 1872), including England, Wales, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic and Austria), Italy, and Greece (20 letters; 28 pages)
• Around the world, July 5, 1875-June 6, 1876, including the western United States, Japan, China, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and France (2 volumes containing duplicate clippings, 115 pages and 71 pages)

The letter book (282 pages), which belonged to Charles S. Francis, has retained copies of his outgoing correspondence from October 25, 1897-July 29, 1901. The letters pertain to personal and business affairs, such as Francis's editorial work for the Troy Daily Times and land he owned in Mississippi. Several newspaper clippings relate to Francis's appointment as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Greece, Romania, and "Servia."

The published memorial (125 pages), entitled In Memoriam: John M. Francis, March 6, 1823-June 18, 1897, contains an engraved portrait, a brief biographical sketch, reminiscences, essays, poetry, and reprinted newspaper obituaries commemorating the life and death of John M. Francis.

The Photograph Album (ca. 1905?) contains 14 images of a new automobile, family members, and pets (possibly in New York state); and 144 vacation photographs showing landscapes, buildings, and persons in Europe. The photos are not labeled or identified, but appear to show Switzerland or Austrian lake districts, as well as urban environments. The photographer captured many of these images with a panoramic camera.

The John Tapson journal is a detailed record of a junior officer's service in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War and the War of 1812.

The journal of Captain's Clerk and Purser, John Tapson, is an outstanding record of a junior officer's service in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic War. Probably a copy made in later years, the journal is a highly literate, occasionally witty journey through the Napoleonic naval war, providing a view of life aboard a Royal Navy ship that may be slightly sanitized, but nevertheless very revealing. There are particularly important descriptions of the near mutiny of the frigate Africaine, the operations along the Spanish coast during the late summer, 1808, and the Neapolitan coast in the late spring, 1809, and of the capture and rescue of the crew of the Africaine in Mauritius, in the fall, 1810.

Though they are less dramatic, Tapson's journal entries from August, 1811, through December, 1814, are no less valuable. Cruising the waters of Sri Lanka, India, and Indonesia, with a side journey to Iraq, Tapson includes some excellent descriptions of English and Dutch colonial outposts in South Asia and the East Indies. A calm air of British superiority and authority over native and rival colonial powers, alike, exudes from Tapson's descriptions of Ceylon and Madras, and particularly in his depictions of interactions with the Portuguese, Dutch and natives in the eastern Indonesian islands.

This collection contains 153 items related to Ward Napier Madison, a native of Montclair, New Jersey, who participated in a missionary trip to Asia from September 1931-August 1932. The bulk of the material consists of letters, meeting minutes, and other documents about the Laymen's Foreign Missionary Inquiry Commission of Appraisal, which visited Sri Lanka, India, China, and Japan.

This collection contains 153 items related to Ward Napier Madison, a native of Montclair, New Jersey, who participated in a missionary trip to Asia from September 1931-August 1932. The bulk of the material consists of letters, meeting minutes, and other documents about the Laymen's Foreign Missionary Inquiry Commission of Appraisal, which visited Sri Lanka, India, China, and Japan.

The first item is Madison's typed 7-page account of his initiation into the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity at Yale University in December 1923. Madison also compiled a typed diary during his trip to Europe in the spring of 1927. In May 1931, he applied for the position of secretary for the Laymen's Foreign Missionary Inquiry Commission of Appraisal's upcoming visit to Asia. Typed letters between the association's members, Madison, and others pertain to Madison's credentials and his health. Madison was accepted, and the bulk of the collection is made up of letters, meeting minutes, and cables about the group's travels. Madison retained copies of other members' correspondence, in which they described their experiences in Sri Lanka, India, China, and Japan. The commission periodically cabled Madison's mother, Louise N. Madison, about their progress, and Ward Madison wrote manuscript letters to his mother and to his grandfather, Charles F. Napier. Madison described missionary work, religion, and Asian politics, particularly the strained relationship between China and Japan. Madison wrote some of his letters on the backs of printed hotel menus, and he sent one photographic postcard with a picture of a hotel swimming pool in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After Madison's return to the United States in 1932, he corresponded with his grandfather about everyday life.