Consists of a photograph album containing over 300 photographs of urban and rural locations in North America, Hawaii, and New Zealand, collected by Australian engineer Norman Selfe (1839-1911) during his 1884 tour to inspect engineering and architectural works abroad. The photographs document street architecture in San Francisco, California; redwood logging ventures in Humboldt County, California; as well as locations in the Oregon, Washington, and Utah Territories; the states of Colorado, Nevada, Missouri, Illinois, New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts; federal buildings in Washington, D.C.; and cities and natural features in Canada, including British Columbia, Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls, and the St. Lawrence River. Includes photographs taken by William Henry Jackson (1843-1942), George Dobson Valentine (1852-1890), George Fiske (1835-1918), I. W. Taber (1830-1912), and others.

Consists of a closed collection of more than 5,000 Western Americana photographs, consisting mostly of documentary photographs of the Trans-Mississippi West from the late 1860s to early 1900s. Subjects include American Indians (especially studio portraits), natural wonders, cities, towns, buildings, and economic activities (mining, railroads, logging, and agriculture). Some photographs relate to the Indigenous populations of Mexico and Central America. The dimensions, physical formats, and photographic processes of the photographs vary widely.