"Primary interest ... has centered in the effort to ascertain the specific contributions made by these explorers, [Robert Kennicott and Henry M. Bannister] assistants in the Smithsonian Institution, to Senator Sumner's knowledge of Russian America ... The Kennicott journal was published in the first volume of the Transactions of the Chicago Academy of Sciences in 1869 ... The Bannister journal ... has not been published and is now in the archives of Northwestern University."--Pref.

Introduction: A. Robert Kennicott. B. Project for an overland telegraph line between the western and eastern continents. C. Treaty for the cession of Russian territory of the United States. D. Contemporary knowledge of Alaska, 1867. E. The testimony of Henry Martyn Bannister.--The journal of Robert Kennicott, May 19, 1859-February 11, 1862.--Bibliography of the writings of Robert Kennicott (p. 135-136)--The journal of Henry Martyn Bannister, March 21, 1865-January 20, 1867.--Letter of Bannister to his parents, November 12, 1866.--Letter of Robert Kennicott to Bannister, January 7, 1866.