Letters, receipts, contracts, 2 manuscript maps, and a drawing pertaining to Brown’s activities in Nicaragua around 1848-1850. Many are dated 1849, and concern his company Compañía de Vapores de Nicaragua. Included are: the Articles of Agreement between the company and Nicaragua in rough draft form and the grant of the transit route, dated March 14, 1849, and signed by Brown and Nicaraguan chief of state General José Trinidad Muñoz. (For an English translation along with other materials by and about Brown, cf. Compilation of executive documents and diplomatic correspondence relative to a trans-isthmian canal in Central America, vol. I, New York : 1900.)

Also included: letters from U.S. Secretary of State James Buchanan; General José Trinidad Muñoz; E.G. Squier, canal expert and, at the time, chargé d’affaires in Nicaragua; Brown’s business partners Simeon H. Ackerman and Asher Kursheadt; and Joseph L. White, Vanderbilt’s representative for the American Atlantic and Pacific Canal Company in Nicaragua. Periodicals of 1849 (located in oversize) --Correo del Istmo, and El panameño--and a broadside "Lamento patriotico", illustrate public opinion favorable to Brown’s proposed project. Finally, a folding blue silk portfolio or wallet, bearing Brown’s name, and stamped "Yengfoong", was possibly used to record purchases or other commercial transactions.