Stone had spent many years collecting data for a history of ornithology and written to an enormous number of people for facts and general information about the subject. It has been reported that he actually had the text written and was in the process of searching for a publisher when he was taken ill and died. It has been a great disappointment to many that his manuscript never came to light when his papers were purchased by Charles M. B. Cadwalader and presented to the Academy's library after Stone's death. The mass of material was sorted, filed and indexed by Virginia Campbell, then a member of the Museum Department of the Academy.