Naval History and Heritage Command

Harvard University
Gray Herbarium Library
22 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138

Wilkes, Charles
Papers, 1838-1842

The Wilkes Expedition papers fall into two main categories: manuscripts and drawings.

The manuscripts include lists (in several handwritings) of plants collected on the expedition; some of the lists appear to have been prepared during the expedition, and some appear to have been prepared later. A letter from Brackenridge encloses a brief catalog of phanogamous plants collected in Hawaii, and a letter from Francis Boott accompanies notes on Carices and Unciniae. There are a variety of rough notes by Asa Gray, some relating to plants of Hawaii, and most important, his manuscript for the unpublished portion of the botanical report, some 1650 pages. Grouped with the manuscripts are a few published materials, including an article by Dana about the Expedition and a large map of Oregon prepared by the Expedition.

There are a number of colored drawings of varying sizes which seem to be field sketches. Most of these are by Agate, but a few are by Drayton. There are also several sets of larger black and white drawings which seem to be the originals for plates to be published. There is a series of such drawings by Agate with a plate proof of one drawing; a series by W.R. Hutton; a small series by Drayton, with 2 plate proofs; and a series of drawings by Isaac Sprague for published and unpublished plates. There are also a few miscellaneous items and a small drawing with a letter from Wilkes.

The letters of Jacob Whitman Bailey, William Dunlop Brackenridge, James Dwight Dana, Charles Pickering, John Torrey and Charles Wilkes which are in the Historic Letters File all contain information pertaining to the Wilkes Expedition. The Historic Letters File also contains a folder labeled "Wilkes Expedition Publications" which includes letters from Joseph Drayton, George F. Lewis, James A. Pearce, Frederick D. Stuart, and Charles Wilkes.