Includes four published portfolios, The Mammoth Tree Grove (1862), The Washoe Mining Region (1862), Pictorial of California Landscape (1870), and Missions of Upper California (1872), along with an important file of original Vischer drawings and paintings; two scrapbooks of California scenes; numerous volumes of California scenes; and items about Vischer.

Collection is arranged into 6 series. The first series contains original sketches and prints of Vischer's works. The second series contains a variety of miscellanea including photographs, handwritten letters, and ephemera. The third series contains materials that were found laid in front and back of one of printed volumes. These materials are mostly manuscripts, prints and photographs with some broadsides. Two scrapbooks inscribed by Vischer to William H. Hilton comprise the fourth series. The fifth series contains various plates, mostly from "Vischer's Pictorial of California". However, there are a few plates that could not be found in any of Vischer's books. The last series, series 6, contains printed materials. Here is where the four published portfolios, additional variations of those portfolios and other printed matter written about Vischer can be found.