Correspondence of members of the Wilkes family, consisting primarily of letters to Charles Wilkes (1798-1877), naval admiral, and of many letters that he wrote. Letters from prominent scientists such as James Renwick, Asa Gray, James D. Dana, and Jean L. R. Agassiz also appear in the papers, as does correspondence of naval officers, Congressmen, diplomats, and cabinet secretaries, especially Secretaries of the Navy. Included among the numerous subjects mentioned in the papers is the exploring expedition that Wilkes commanded to the Antarctic continent, islands of the Pacific Ocean, and the American Northwest coast from 1838-1842. There is a lot of family correspondence from various members of the Wilkes family which include two wives of Charles Wilkes. Other types of material in the collection are legal papers, financial records, printed material, writings, account books, a science notebook written by Wilkes' son Edmund in 1847, and a volume entitled, "Notes Relative to the Fijii [sic] Islands," written by Charles Wilkes. These items make up part of the Charles Wilkes Papers.