The collection contains original illustrations in pencil, ink, and watercolor, and engravings and lithographs primarily created by Charles Alexandre Lesueur for scientific papers published in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Some of the illustrations document Lesueur’s work as part of natural history expeditions including the Baudin Expedition to Australia, 1800-1804 commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and a geological investigation of the Walnut Hills near Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1829. Of note is one of the earliest lithographic prints made in the United States in 1821.
