Letters, chiefly of a scientific nature and texts reporting his scientific findings. The latter were intended for publication, although many of them never actually appeared in print.

Many of Rafinesque's papers were sold at auction after his death, and S. S. Haldeman purchased a large number for $5.00. Many of them were donated to the Academy in 1849 by the purchaser, but the subject matter covered was almost entirely botanical, Haldeman having kept those dealing with zoological topics. In 1921 Haldeman's grandson Guy K. Haldeman gave a large collection of letters to the Academy, which included those Rafinesque had written to S. S. Haldeman. In 1940 a collection of Rafinesque letters addressed to Z. Collins was given the Academy by the heirs of Francis Rawle. Charles Boewe gives an account of this collection in Proc. Amer. Phil. Soc., v. 102, 1958, p. 590-5, and Francis W. Pennell presents much of the history of the Rafinesque manuscript materials in his Life and Work of Rafinesque, Transylvania College Bulletin, v. 15, No. 7, Sept. 1942, p. 10-70. Pennell later deposited the Academy's collection at the library of the Amer. Philos. Society which supplied this microfilm, and analysis.