Correspondence, mostly relating to the business of the U. S. Coast Survey (later called the Coast and Geodetic Survey), but including material on Bache's other scientific activities, educational questions, and the Civil War; and diaries (1836-1838) containing notes on educational institutions and foreign affairs made during a trip to Europe as president of the proposed Girard College. Correspondents include John Jordan Crittenden, John A. Dahlgren, James Dwight Dana, Charles H. Davis, Balinda Dudley, Benjamin A. Gould, Jefferson Davis, Lyman C. Draper, Samuel Francis Du Pont, Cyrus W. Field, Joseph Henry, Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and George E. Waring.