The collection consists of journals, writings, correspondence, scrapbooks, documents, photographs, and printed matter of William Beebe, primarily relating to his association with the New York Zoological Society (NYZS). There are 75 journal volumes beginning in 1890 and including diary entries, natural history notes, collection lists, essay material, and course notes taken at Columbia University. From 1903 to 1961 the journals focus mainly on Beebe's many expeditions for the NYZS--as its first curator of birds (1902-1916), he went to Mexico, the West Indies, Venezuela, and Guiana, and as founder (1916) and director (1923-1952) of its Department of Tropical Research (DTR), he made terrestrial expeditions to Guiana, Trinidad, the West Indies, Venezuela, and Singapore, and oceanographic expeditions to the Bermuda Islands, the Galapagos Islands, and the Gulf of California. Beebe continued conducting research at the Simla Station, Trinidad, after his retirement until his death in 1962. Beebe and the DTR were responsible for the discovery and description of over 800 new species of fish, insects, mollusks, and animals; cataloging and preserving specimens; publications and exhibits; and the collection of live specimens for the NYZS.

Also included are reports, field notes, articles, and other data relating to Beebe's expedition to Asia (1909-1911) to collect information on pheasants, which resulted in his major work, A Monograph of the Pheasants (1918-1922); correspondence, records, and logs of dives made by Beebe in his bathysphere off the coast of Bermuda (1930-1934), sponsored, in part, by the National Geographic Society, and material related to its exhibition at the New York World's Fair (1939); the manuscript for Zaca Venture (1938), an account of the 24th DTR expedition on the schooner Zaca in the Gulf of California; additional writings on his Singapore and Trinidad expeditions; and miscellaneous articles such as "Abyssal Life" and "The Destiny of Ships." Also present are notes entitled "Mid-Ocean" for a projected book on deep-sea life.

A selected file of correspondence includes letters from NYZS associates Madison Grant, William Hornaday, and Henry Fairfield Osborn, expedition financiers Anthony R. Kuser and Harrison Williams, and such diverse contemporaries as John Burroughs, Frank M. Chapman, Lord Dunsany, Prince George, Rudyard Kipling, A. A. Milne, Theodore Roosevelt, Otis Skinner, and Casey Wood.

In addition, there are certificates and awards; a few photographs of Beebe, his mother, Henrietta Younglove Beebe, and friends and associates; bibliographic material; memorabilia and scrapbooks (1910-1926) of newspaper clippings about Beebe and his works; and tearsheets of a few of Beebe's articles and reviews of his books.

"Additional Papers" contains letters from Beebe to his lecture agent James Pond regarding his extensive lecture schedule and other business matters, related lecture programs and announcements, as well as other miscellaneous correspondence and a bound "Guest Book."