George P. Merrill edited and compiled the list of State entries for natural history surveys and/or geological surveys for the individual States. Geological surveys may include references are non-uniform and sporadic by State. The omission of a State or Territory indicates that no public survey of the locality was undertaken during the period covered by this history. The subject matter is arranged alphabetically by States.

These papers deal with various aspects of the histories of geomorphology and Quaternary geology in different parts of the world. They include: the origin of the term 'Quaternary', histories of ideas and debates relating to aspects of fluvial geomorphology, glacial geomorphology and glaciation, desert dunes and the geology of Australia, peneplains in China, a palaeo-Tokyo Bay in Japan, together with biographies of Charles Cotton, Valerija Čepulytė and Česlovas Pakuckas that highlight their respective contributions to the disciplines of geomorphology and Quaternary geology.