A project which absorbed Abbe's attention between 1886 and 1907 involved a book written in Russia by the meteorologist, Alexander J. Woeikoff, a professor and astronomer at the University of St. Petersburg. In 1884, Woeikoff published the original Climates of the Earth, and Abbe hoped to have a translation published in the United States. Abbe engaged Alexander Ziwet, a University of Michigan professor of Mathematics to translate the volume into English, and Abbe intended to add observations of his own. Circumstances of time and distance as well as some recession in the publishing business prevented the eventual publication of the project. The holographic manuscript of "Climates of the Earth" is included in this collection.This series also contains reprints of Abbe's own work, and lectures by Abbe and others.

Final items in the collection include lecture notes of John Park Finley who attended lectures given by Abbe in Washington D.C., 1885-1886 and a notebook giving comparative barometric readings, 1899-1952. Apparently, an associate of Abbe's continued the entries after Abbe's death in 1916.