The Collection Rosanna Duncan Sanderson is comprised of the contents of eighteen notebooks of Sanderson's research into late-seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth century shipping from the United States to points throughout the world. The majority of the notebooks contain lists of ships, captains, and voyages, with indexes for each notebook. Other notebooks contain her notes from various published sources and logbooks. Sanderson appears to have conducted research in various repositories in New York, New England, Hawaii, Virginia, and Australia . The purpose of this research is unknown. The collection also includes Sanderson's correspondence with the institutions possessing those sources. The correspondence indicates her involvement in the founding of the journal of the Peabody Museum, "The American Neptune," and her plans to publish Captain Samuel Hill's log book of the Ship OPHELIA.