Industrialist and amateur naturalist, Laurent early specialized on insects, but amassing an extensive collection in various sciences. Through the years he sold all his museum but insects, his collection of birds being presently the property of the Reading, Pa. Museum. His insects, a collection of 40,000 pinned specimens from the local area, Florida and western United States came to the Academy of Natural Sciences. It is concerned chiefly with North American Lepidoptera and Coleoptera. The letters were all written to Henry Skinner whom he addresses as “Harry” and relate entirely to entomology, his local collecting trips, exchanges, identifications, as well as business of the American Entomological Society and Entomological Section of the Academy. A typescript biography by J. A. G. Rehn is included here, which refers chiefly to his collection; a Bound [UNK] of his published papers is also included.

These letters were archived with the American Entomological Society's correspondence after Henry Skinner's death.