A medical attendant during the Spanish-American War, Bales followed his interests in natural history and became an explorer and malacologist. He amassed a fine collection of mollusks through collecting and exchange with other conchologists. He died some years before his wife and after the latter's death, Jeanne Schwengel contacted the son and bought the entire collection which she in turn presented to the Department of Mollusks at the Academy of Natural Sciences. He also had a fine collection of birds' eggs which was bequeathed to Ohio State University. These papers consist of some biographical material, a large collection of letters from conchologists, and 8 writings dealing with conchology or lists of specimens. These papers were acquired with Bales' shell collection through Jeanne Schwengel.