The endorsement on the back reads: "Found by me in a parcel of Plants collected by F. Pursh w[hi]ch made part of ye Lambert Herbarium, & was bought by me in London at the Lambert sale in 1842. Edward Tuckerman." In 1807 Pursh kept a "Journal of a botanical excursion in the Northeastern parts of Pennsylvania & in the state of New York." The manuscript was found among the papers of his patron, Benjamin Smith Barton, in 1817. It has been published twice: first in Philadelphia in 1869, and then in 1923 for the Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse, New York, with notes by William M. Beauchamp. On 3 April 1868 Thomas P. James spoke of various properties of Pursh. He told how the map was drawn and used in the botanical expedition, and he spoke of the history of the map. Asa Gray, the famous botanist, owned it, and wished to present it to the American Philosophical Society and reunite it with the journal. "The Journal and map are now, after a separation of sixty years, united." Presented by Asa Gray, 3 April 1868.
