Correspondence, speeches, writings, autobiography, notes, clippings, printed matter, and other papers relating primarily to Appleton's connection with Ferdinand de Lesseps and to his work as American agent (1881-1888) for Compagnie universelle du canal interocéanique de Panama, a French company attempting to build a canal across Panama. Subjects include Appleton's presidency of the National Board of Trade (U.S.), free trade, tariffs, Appleton's world travels, and affairs of the Appleton family of Boston, Mass. Correspondents include Edwin M. Bacon, George E. Belknap, Edward Bellamy, Henry Bergh, George B. Cortelyou, Andrew Gregg Curtin, John William Draper, John W. Forney, Mark Alonzo Hanna, George Frisbie Hoar, John Davis Long, Charles Eliot Norton, John C. Spooner, and Anne Whitney.