Pt. I : Mainly letters and papers of John Lloyd Stephens; papers for the settlement of his estate and some correspondence of his father, Benjamin Stephens. Concerning John L. Stephens' travels in Mexico and Central America, his publications and his association with the Panama Railroad. Some papers pertain to family land holdings in New York State.

Pt. II : "Eventful expedition ... to Iximaya: material assembled by Wolfgang Von Hagen.

Pt. II : Use positive microfilm only (BANC MSS Z-Z 116 FILM): $b Consult the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, regarding use.

John Lloyd Stephens was born November 28, 1805, in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey, the son of Benjamin Stephens and Clemence Lloyd Stephens. He received his A. B. degree from Columbia College in 1822 and his M. A. from Columbia in 1828. In 1824, he was graduated from the Tapping Reeve Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut. Between 1834 and 1836, he traveled extensively through Europe and the Near East, including Egypt, Arabia Petrea and Russia, and in 1837 and 1838, published accounts of his travels. Stephens' archaeological expeditions to Central America, Mexico and Yucatan were in 1839 and 1842. He was accompanied on both of these journeys by Frederick Catherwood, the British architect and artist. The result of these two tours was Incidents of Travel in Central America, which Stephens published in 1841, and Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, published in 1843. In 1847, Stephens became an official of the Ocean Steam Navigation Company and traveled to Germany, where he met Baron Alexander von Humboldt in Berlin. He later wrote of this meeting in An hour with Humboldt, which appeared in the Living Age Magazine. From l848 to 1852, Stephens was engaged in building a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama and became president of the Panama Railroad Company. He died in New York City, Oct. 5, 1852, at the age of 47 -a victim of Chagres fever.

Number of containers: 4 boxes and 2 oversize folders

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Collection is open for research.