The papers of the American meteorologist Cleveland Abbe (1838-1916) span the years 1850-1954, with the bulk of the material dated up to 1916. The papers consist mainly of correspondence received by Abbe and a few copies of his replies and are organized into the following series: Diaries, General Correspondence, Family Correspondence and Related Papers, Subject File, Speech and Article File, and Printed Matter.

The General Correspondence contains many letters from the American astronomer Benjamin Apthorp Gould, whom Cleveland Abbe assisted at Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1861-1864, in the telegraphic longitude work of the United States Coast Survey. There are also numerous letters from Otto Struve, former director of the Nicholas Central Observatory of Pulkovo, near St. Petersburg, Russia, where Abbe spent two years, 1864-1866, as a guest astronomer. Other prominent correspondents include Albert S. Bickmore, James H. Coffin, William Ferrel, Wolcott Gibbs, Asaph Hall, Joseph Henry, S. P. Langley, Simon Newcomb, A. S. Packard, Benjamin Pierce, Lewis M. Rutherford, Truman Henry Safford, and James C. Watson. Abbe's career as meteorologist with the United States Signal Corps and with the United States Weather Bureau, which was organized under the Department of Agriculture, is also reflected in his correspondence.

The Family and Related Papers contain a sizeable number of letters received from members of his family, notably those from his brother Robert Abbe, an American surgeon who was one of the first in the United States to use radium in the treatment of cancer.

The Subject File contains papers relating to Abbe's activities following his return to the United States from Russia. In 1868, he became director of the Cincinnati Observatory, and his interest shifted from the field of astronomy to that of meteorology and the practical application of that science in preparing weather forecasts and issuing warnings of approaching storms. There are a number of the earliest maps that Abbe constructed in 1870 showing the current state of weather conditions over the country based on telegraphic reports of weather conditions in various locations throughout the nation. There are also copies of weather synopses and probabilities from 1872 that were issued in the forms of bulletins with the cooperation of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, the first regular undertaking of this kind in America and prototype of the present weather service. The series also contains papers collected by Abbe relating to the Abbe family genealogy, a work that for nearly sixty years was his recreation and hobby.