This collection chiefly consists of correspondence and some papers related to the lives and family affairs of American geologist and explorer Raphael Pumpelly (1837-1923) and his wife, Eliza Shepard Pumpelly (died 1915).

Raphael Pumpelly (1837-1923), American geologist and explorer, studied at the Royal School of Mines in Freiberg. He accepted a post in 1861 as a geologist for the Japanese government, and served two years in that position before traveling on through China, Mongolia, and Russia. He returned to the U.S. to study iron and copper deposits in Michigan and the Lake Superior district and from 1884-89 served as head of the New England division of the U.S. Geological Survey. In 1903 and 1904 he led expeditions to Turkestan under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Pumpelly's wife, Eliza Frances Shephard Pumpelly, whom he had married in 1869, died in 1915, eight years before he died in Newport, Rhode Island in 1923.

Approximately 3,500 pieces in 15 boxes

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