The 37 letters in the collection were acquired at various times, mainly through purchase, and assembled for the collection. The letters span the dates 1825-1870. Individually the letters are not especially significant, but collectively they touch on most aspects of Sedgwick's life and career. There are letters about Sedgwick's work on university reform, the Geological Museum at Cambridge, lectures, colleagues, travel, health, and family. Only one letter in the collection delves into any detail about Sedgwick's geologic work.
Several letters contain material about Sedgwick's prominent role in university reform. A letter from 1832 explains the use of the Royal mandamus petition to grant degrees. In a letter to his boyhood friend George Peacock, dating probably from March 1847, Sedgwick notes that he did his "utmost to keep good humour" around him during the recent election of Prince Albert to the Chancellorship of Cambridge. Lord Monteagle has just informed Sedgwick that the Prince has accepted the post.
Another topic of the letters is the Geologic Museum. A letter from 1829 talks about mineral specimens and the fact that "Mr. Tennant succeeded Mawe" in the Strand shop; both Mawe and Tennant were prominent mineralogists and dealers familiar professionally to Sedgwick as colleagues and providers of specimens. One letter from 1842 notes the upcoming inspection and audit of the museum, the first since the move into the new building in 1841. Sopwith ( Thomas Sopwith, a mining engineer also known for his geologic models) is mentioned in the letter, as is one "Sowerby," a member of the distinguished family of naturalists. Another letter, from March 1856, concerns raising funds for the purchase of the paleontology collection of Rev. T. Image, a drive that was eventually successful.
Five letters from 1842-3 discuss the creation of a model for his lectures. The letters could be to Thomas Sopwith, but the correspondent is unidentified. The model is to be similar to the one belonging to Henry Thomas de la Beche of the Forest of Dean. There are specific instructions about making the model with a stout cover so that it can be used as a table during a lecture.
More than a few letters feature colleagues, or life at the university, usually in routine matters such as arranging to meet. One letter (undated, but from 1848) notes that while Henry De La Beche was to be knighted, "I hope now that he mounts his spurs he will not drop his hammer." Another (June 19, 1854) notes that Sedgwick wants to return to Cambridge to "attend Hall," that is, to dine at Trinity College, where he is "Master & Lord of the Spit" and where he is needed because his antiquarian friends tend to forget to eat.
Sedgwick did not travel out of Britain very often, though he did travel frequently about the country, visiting relatives, friends, and of course on trips to the field. A letter (January 30, 1830) notes that he saw a blast that brought down some chalk cliffs at Dover. In a charming letter (undated, but from August 14, 1850) to an unidentified correspondent about a visit to the Duchess of Argyll, Sedgwick playfully notes his inability to be at Cambridge now because since the Duchess has invited him to stay, it is his policy that whenever "duty & inclination have a fight, [Sedgwick] thinks it best & most manly that inclination should win"; it is "a severe code of morals for a poor old Monk" but he will ask for the Duchess' "grace and absolution" tomorrow. Two letters discuss trips taken to spas for Sedgwick's health, one referring to his extended stay in Wiesbaden (undated, but from 1844), another about a brief stop in Bath (April 11, 1870).
The spa letters are part of the half of the collection that has some mention of Sedgwick's health. Bronchitis, colds, "influenza," gout, and "sluggish liver" are some of the conditions mentioned. A letter from April 26, 1842, says that Sedgwick is suffering from "suppressed gout," and he wishes that it would "show its face at the surface instead of lurking among my vitals, & poisoning the fresh air of life."
Several letters discuss aspects of Sedgwick's family life. In two Sedgwick writes to relatives of people he had known in earlier life. One (1864) reminisces about the correspondent's father, who was ordained with Sedgwick. The other (1847) reminisces about the correspondent's father, "Mr. Foster of Hebblethwaite Hall" in Sedbergh, a friend of the Sedgwick family from his youth. Mr. Foster was a man of "uncommon stamp." But the last time Sedgwick visited Sedbergh, it seemed that all the people he knew were gone.
Finally, one letter in the collection discusses in some detail Sedgwick's geology. It was written in (probably January) 1842 to an unidentified correspondent. Sedgwick writes that he is sending the correspondent a box of "Bala fossils" (there are today a town, a limestone formation, and a geologic sub-period of that name) collected by the late "Mr. Bowman" (probably John Eddoes Bowman, 1785-1841). The correspondent saw the Bala fossils Robert Murchison and Sedgwick collected in 1834. The Bala fossils "may contain some new species." The new fossils "should be brought into some comparison with those of Coniston water Head," that is, fossils found at the head of Coniston Water, the third largest lake in the English Lake District. Sedgwick now thinks that the Bala fossils "are on a lower parallel than that of Coniston" though many of the species are certainly the same. Sedgwick adds that the Snowdons "lie many thousand feet lower still, but the old species still show their faces."