This collection consists of portolan or nautical maps and charts created by the 17th century English Thames School chartmaker Nicholas Comberford. Includes a map of the Mediterranean dating from 1666 and two charts of the English Channel and North Atlantic, dating from 1641 and 1668.

The earliest material in this collection are papers and correspondence of Thomas Russell Smith (1910-1996) including accounts of his travels with his family around the world in 1925-1926 and to Europe in 1929. The bulk of the collection consists of research notes, photographs, drafts, papers and correspondence about the history of cartography. There are also some notes from his course on the history of cartography.