This collection covers four aspects of the life of Sir Hugh Beaver: biographical and personal material; professional correspondence; personal correspondence; and lectures, speeches and addresses.
A) Biographical and personal: This section contains letters from friends and family sent to Sir Hugh, drafts and extracts for his autobiography, Sir Hugh's pocket diaries and desk diaries and notes press cuttings and correspondence relating to Sir Hugh's time in the Punjab Police.
B) Professional: This section contains correspondence relating to Sir Hugh's time in Canada, correspondence between Sir Hugh and Sir Alexander Gibb, correspondence relating to Sir Hugh's job at the Ministry of Works and building projects undertaken by the Ministry, correspondence relating to business affairs at Guinness, correspondence relating to his work on various committees during his time at Guinness.
C) Correspondence: This section contains personal correspondence relating to Sir Hugh and his family. It is arranged in chronological order.
D) Lectures, Speeches and Addresses: This section contains lectures, speeches and addresses on industrial planning, education, management practices, air pollution, industry and economics.

Records, [1820s]-1984, of the Chadwick Trust. Administrative papers comprise legal papers setting up the Trust, 1890-1896; minute books, 1895-1983; annual reports, 1962-1978; lists of securities, 1914-1917; corrected booklet The Chadwick Trust, 1926-1937; script of a proposed film treatment of Sir Edwin Chadwick, 1958; signing-in book for meetings, 1972-1980. Financial papers comprise account books, 1958-1979; tax claims, 1972-1976; financial files, 1972-1980; correspondence on tax reclaimed, 1980. Papers on lectures given under the auspices of the Trust comprise announcements of lectures, 1913-1935; printed copies of lectures held under the Trust's auspices, 1930-1967, the subjects including public health and buildings, sewerage, nutrition, disease, air quality, training and public health, medical provision, and public health work overseas; other printed lectures and writings, 1896-1932, the subjects including aspects of sanitation, disease, and Sir Edwin Chadwick. Correspondence comprises general correspondence, 1913-1924, 1971-1982; correspondence of the Clerk of the Trust, 1969-1979; correspondence of G M Binnie, 1944-1980; Charity Commission correspondence, 1962-1978; correspondence relating to medals and a memorial prize, 1966-1978; Trustees, 1969-1977; receptions, meetings and lectures, 1970-1978; blue plaque, 1972-1976; costing of activities, 1974; annual reports, 1974-1979; transfer of the Trust to University College London, 1974-1984. Miscellaneous items pertaining to Edwin Chadwick, [1820s]-1889, include his diary [1820s] and patents of his inventions, 1871-1872. Other acquired papers comprise printed ephemera including circulars against inoculation [1914-1918] and undated printed extracts from a hymn on sanitation. Photographs include undated prints of Edwin Chadwick and other eminent scientists; undated slides for a lecture, including various 19th-century public figures, 19th- and 20th-century mortality rates, and various London hospitals; and photographs, 1980, of a plaque to Chadwick at his birthplace in Longsight, Greater Manchester.

Records of the Sanitary Committee (1866-1897) and the Public Health Committee (1898-1956) including minutes, 1866-1956; committee papers, 1906-1956; report books, 1866-1956; Burial Board letter books, 1948-1956 and subject files, 1867-1955. Subjects include handling of condemned food; house drainage; sanitary inspectors; slaughter houses; bacteriologists; pigeon nuisance; the Housing Act 1936; the National Health Service; the London County Council health committee; smoke abatement and the City of London Cemetery including footpaths, boundaries, fees for internment, maintenance and arrangements for civilian deaths during the Second World War.

Collection comprises data gathered by the Environmental Research Group, 1993-2005, on air quality in the following regions and counties: Greater London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Sussex and Kent. Also, annual reports of the London Air Quality Network, Air Quality in London, (South East Institute of Public Health), Feb 1944-2005.

Records of the London County Council Public Control Department, 1845-1966, including subject and policy files on various topics including the Royal Commission on Local Taxation; Smoke Nuisance Abatement (Metropolis) Bill; smoke nuisances, atmospheric pollution, smog and fogs; smoke in Thames tunnels; and electricity generating stations. Annual Reports of the Chief Officer of the Public Control Department and annual reports of the Public Control Committee and of the Inebriates Acts Committee. Other papers including Acts of Parliament relevant to the work of the Public Control Department; notes and instructions for guidance of inspectors; examples of warrants issued to officers authorising them to institute proceedings in the courts; solicitor's reports and legal opinions on public control matters.

Records of the London County Council Public Health Department relating to organisational and general matters, 1867-1967, including copies of relevant Parliamentary legislation; reports on investigations by Council officials; legal cases; papers relating to the introduction of the National Health Service; papers relating to the construction and maintenance of buildings run by the Public Health department; conference and committee papers; statistics; papers relating to various public health issues including refuse disposal, drainage and sewers, air pollution, water supply, water quality and slum clearance. Reports and printed papers relating to public health, including booklets, posters and pamphlets produced by the LCC to advertise and explain their health services.

Papers of Sir Allen Daley (Principal Medical Officer, 1929-1938; Deputy Medical Officer of Health, 1938-1939 and Medical Officer of Health, 1939-1952), consisting of a collection of extracts from medical and other journals, 1912-1938. Papers of Dr J. Letitia D Fairfield, CBE, a Medical Officer and, later, Senior Medical Officer in the Public Health Department, 1911-1948, consisting of memoranda and correspondence arising in the course of her duties, articles written by her and other articles from medical and other journals on subjects of interest in connection with her duties.

Also collection of 360 files relating to the treatment of tuberculosis by the General Public Health Department of the London County Council, 1904-1950. Many of the files are concerned with particular hospitals and sanatoria in England, which specialised in the treatment and rehabilitation of tuberculous patients. The files contain descriptions of the sanatoria, reports of their management, correspondence, financial accounts and details of particular cases. These details include the welfare of patients, as well as arrangements for their travelling expenses. The files also relate to the provision of TB administration in war time, the treatment of service men and their families, and also of refugees. The files contain information relating to the treatment of diseases associated with TB, including lupus, syphilis, silicosis and asbestosis, osteomyetitis and poliomyelitis. Progress in the treatment of TB can be traced in the files relating to the value of treatment in Switzerland, and in the files concerned with Open Air Schools. Emphasis is also placed on the importance of mass radiography as an aid towards the detection of TB at an early stage, and file 360 contains a number of such X-Ray negatives.

Papers relating to railways, 1839-1983, including reports, evidence and petitions relating to the construction of new lines and stations; papers relating to fires, 1522-1974, including papers on the provision of fire fighting equipment, the introduction of fire insurance policies and the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade; papers relating to the Great Fire of London, 1667-1966, including acts, orders and financial accounts relating to the rebuilding of the City of London including receipts from Christopher Wren, papers relating to the investigation into the cause of the Fire, financial accounts of funds to relieve those affected, descriptions and accounts of the Fire; papers relating to Royal and Municipal Commissions, 1816-1969; papers relating to war 1692-1995, including papers relating to the Corporation's activities during World War One; air raid precautions and casualties, Roll of Honour of Civilian War Dead in the City of London and papers relating to the bombing of Guildhall, World War Two and City of London salute to the task force, Falklands Campaign, 1982.

Papers relating to transport, 1663-1985, including hackney coaches and hackney carriages, carts and carmen, stage coaches, river traffic, tramways, omnibuses and buses, subways, Heathrow and Fairlop Airports, the London Underground and the Channel Tunnel terminal in London; papers relating to shipping, 1610-1989; papers relating to trades and crafts, 1510-1991, including bills, wages, regulations, acts and petitions regarding bricklayers, carpenters, carters, founders, glaziers, masons, painters, paviors, plasterers, plumbers, smiths, wireworkers, button makers, butchers, chimney sweeps, hairdressers, ironmongers, spoon makers, paper makers, tanners, tailors, rakers, midwives, engravers, clock makers and printers; papers relating to the Honourable Artillery Company, 1503-1967.

Papers relating to the history of London, 1565-1994, including "An exposicion of the Kinges prerogative collected out of the great abridgement of Justice Fitz-Herbert and other olde writers of the lawes of England" by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, 1565, "Londinopolis: An Historicall Discourse or Perlustration of the City of London, The Imperial Chamber, and chief Emporium of Great Britain: Whereunto is added another of the City of Westminster, with the Courts of Justice, Antiquities, and new Buildings thereunto belonging" by James Havel, 1657, and various other antiquarian and modern books, articles and pamphlets on the history of London; papers relating to health and medicine, 1657-1994, including bills of mortality, papers relating to the outbreak of plague in London, 1665-1666, letters, reports and conference papers relating to the control of cholera; papers regarding provisions, 1607-1990, including warrant authorising the Mayor to receive venison out of the Royal Parks, 1607 and papers of committees investigating the high price of provisions, 1767-1822; papers relating to the government of the City of London and Greater London, 1849-1993; papers relating to the provision and price of gas, 1828-1918; papers relating to the supply of water to the City, 1538-1992; papers relating to the placing, erection and upkeep of statues and monuments in London, 1680-1995; papers relating to weights and measures, 1678-1997, including records of action taken against those using false weights and measures and registers of weighed goods; papers relating to seals and medals, 1285-1995, including examples of medieval seals and register of documents sealed; papers relating to insignia and plate, 1650-1993, including information on the Collar of SS, Diamond Badge or Jewel, Mace, Crystal Mace, Swords, City Purse, Mayoralty Seal, Robes and Sceptre and inventories of City plate; papers relating to the population of the City of London, 1719-1982, including "A compu tation of the increase of London and parts adjacent; with some causes thereof, and remarks thereon", 1719, population returns, 1821-1897 and population studies and articles; papers regarding tolls, 1605-1833, including Acts, bonds, exemptions and leases; papers relating to the postal service, 1741-1938, including examples of early stamps and papers relating to the Penny Post; papers relating to the carrying out of writs, 1460-1965, including writs of habeas corpus, certiorari, subpoenas and jury summons; papers relating to the textile trade, 1674-1995, including orders, rates, inventories, petitions relating to the production of textiles including cloth, lace and wool, bonds of searches and sealers of tanned leather, 1699-1804, and articles on the history of textiles.

Papers relating to probate, 1693-1786, including estate inventories, letters of administration and notes on legal customs; papers relating to the regulation of fireworks and bonfires within the City, 1673-1857; papers relating to archaeological investigations in the City of London, 1972-1989; extracts relating to archery in Finsbury Fields, 1521; reports and articles relating to the armorial bearings of the City, 1216-1973; bullion certificates, 1696-1819; licences issued for the right to use calcium carbide, 1897-1919; papers relating to convex lights, 1692-1694; papers relating to conveyancing, 1770-1948 and various other papers relating to aspects of the administration of the City of London including common soil, conservation, criminal prosecutions, city customs and liberties, the Customs House, erection of hoardings, gifts and presentations, regulation of gunpowder, income tax, the London Building Acts, licensing, lotteries, regulation and licensing of petroleum, precedent books, precepts issued by the Mayor or Common Council, bills for printing and stationery, the Olympic Games, pageantry, proclamations, brewers and public houses, the Shops Act, smoke abatement and clean air, street cleaning, theatres, the unemployed, Viewer's reports, wharves, woods and forests, newspapers and cuttings, fishing, the Festival of the City of London, coffee houses, coinage, the Bank of England and other financial institutions.