This series includes 1210 items, and includes pamphlets, newspapers, and clippings. Some items are illustrated.
The largest single body of photographs in the collection (429 prints) derives from several trips that Gedney took to India: the first, in 1969, sponsored by a Fulbright Fellowship, which took him to old Delhi and Benares (Banaras or Varanasi), then another in 1979, when he returned to visit Calcutta (Kolkata) for about four months. From these transformative experiences came the thousands of images preserved on contact sheets, then the hundreds of exhibit-quality prints in this series.
An accomplished artist and draftsman, Gedney kept much of the artwork dating from his student years at the Pratt Institute. Formats in this series include small spiral-bound sketchbooks, loose pages of sketches and drawings, larger sketchpads, and single pieces of art, the latter chiefly oils on simple cardboard. The dominant media are pencil and ink, but there are charcoal sketches, watercolors, some screen prints, a few graphic prints, and mixed media. Unless otherwise noted, subjects are mixed, and often include human figures, faces, interiors and interior details, city street scenes, plant studies, and animals, chiefly cats. There are only a few nude sketches. Most artwork is representational, but a few drawings and prints are abstract. In many cases, the style and subject content resonate quite clearly with Gedney's photographic compositions.