Papers of Dr John Rae, 1852-1883, including drafts of eleven letters, 1852-1856, addressed to the Admiralty and others on Arctic exploration; letter to H W Feilden, 19 Apri 1878; six short essays on Arctic subjects including 'On certain phenomena observed on the Arctic coast', and on treatment of frostbite; nine letters to Rae from various correspondents, 1855-1883 and diary on board the screw yacht FOX on a north Atlantic voyage, Jul-Nov 1860.

Papers collected by Henry Grinnell relating to the search for Sir John Franklin, including letter from Lt Belcher to HM Consul, New York, 1852; instructions to Capt Belcher 1854; sketch of Franklin memorial stone; letters from Lady Franklin to Admiralty and Lord Palmerston; sketch map showing track of boats from HMSS EREBUS and TERROR.

Journal of Henry Wemyss Feildon entitled 'Journal of a voyage to Smith Sound in the years 1875-76 on board HMS ALERT by HWF naturalist to the expedition'; sketches, engravings, notes and press cuttings enclosed.

Papers of Sir James Clark Ross, 1819-1875, including log as sub-lieutenant on HMS HECLA, on W E Parry's first expedition on search of the North-West Passage, 1819-1920; letter, letter-draft and memorandum, 1838, containing proposals for an expedition in search of the North-West Passage; letter from Ross on the HMS EREBUS to the Royal Geographical Society reporting on his Antarctic voyage, 1842; and copy, made by Allen Young in 1875, of a message left by Ross at Cape Coulman, 7 Jun 1849.

Papers of Sir Allen William Young, 1857-1920, including ship's logs of the voyages of the PANDORA and the HOPE to the Arctic and the COROMANDEL and the MARLBOROUGH to India; journals kept on the FOX (the search for Sir John Franklin) and other voyages; nine scrapbooks of press cuttings entitled 'Shipping' and miscellaneous items.

Papers of William Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk, 1871-1877, comprise a photocopy of record left by them on the island of Novaya Zemlya, in the Artic Circle, in 1597.

Log of the Proceedings on board HMS Fury on a voyage for the discovery of the North West Passage kept by James Clark Ross, 21 Jan 1824-5 Oct 1825.

Correspondence of Sir Edward Sabine, together with two volumes of correspondence on Terrestrial Magnetism by Sir Edward Sabine, Reverend Humphrey Lloyd and others.

Papers of Sir Francis Leopold McClintock, 1848-1860, including journal while serving as a lieutenant in HMS ENTERPRISE in the first Franklin search expedition, 1848-1849, as abbreviated and rewritten on his return; a photocopy of sledging journal from the same expedition; a photocopy of a record deposited in 1853 on Banks Island; a progress report, etc., deposited in Beechey Island depot in 1858; microfilms of journals and reports written by McClintock and others, 1848-1859 (from originals among the Arctic Reports in the TNA); and a letter to Sir Charles Bright from HMS BULLDOG, 28 Nov, 1860.

Papers of Dr Richard Julius Cyriax, 1864-1969, comprise notes on Noel Wright, New light on Franklin (Ipswich, 1949) and Quest for Franklin (London, 1959) and notably include a critique on the book, in two volumes dated 17 July 1954 and photostat and MS copies of notebooks of Captain C F Hall's second Franklin Search Expedition, 1864-1869.

Papers of Augustine Courtauld, 1930-1931, comprise two angle books, from the British Arctic Air Route Expedition to Greenland.

Note or manuscript 'Record' left in an Arctic cairn by Surgeon R W Coppinger, 12 May 1876, while with the sledge party from HMS ALERT during that vessel's Arctic expedition. On the reverse of the note is a copy of an earlier 'Record' made by crew member of USS POLARIS, Capt S G Budington, 7 May 1872, reporting the progress of the POLARIS, including the death of Capt Charles Francis Hall, 8 Nov 1871. Presumably Coppinger retrieved the original record from the cairn, returned it to the US government and made a copy on the reverse of his own note to leave in the cairn.

Photocopies of refusal by Canadian Court to take action relating to Charles Francis Hall's alleged shooting of Patrick Coleman during a 1860s expedition to search for the explorer John Franklin, Oct-Dec, 1869, with covering letter from A G E Jones.

Papers of Vilhjamur Stefansson including photostats of records from the Arctic, 1851-1909, found by the Canadian Arctic expedition in 1917 on Banks and Dealy Islands and letters, chiefly on Stefansson's interest on Ogden's system of Basic English, 1926-1954.

Papers of Sir Francis Leopold Mcclintock, covering most of his service career and in particular the Arctic voyages. There are official service documents; logs, 1831 to 1848, 1857 to 1859; diaries, 1848 to 1854, 1860 to 1862, 1879 to 1882, and a letterbook, 1865. The papers relating to the Franklin search expeditions include orders issued by Austin, 1850 to 1851; a letterbook of Kellett's, 1853; papers on the expedition led by Lieutenant F Schwatka, United States Army, 1878 to 1880, and several notebooks, including those kept during the courses McClintock took between 1841 and 1842. Finally there is private correspondence which includes letters from Lady Jane Franklin (1792-1875), from many other people involved in arctic and maritime exploration and from McClintock to members of his family.

MSS.3259-3285 comprise chiefly scientific material; they include student notebooks on zoology, botany and geology (MSS.3259-3280); scientific logs from the British Antarctic Expedition (MSS.3281-3283), specifically a biological log (MSS.3281-3282) and a log of whales sighted (MS.3283), both spanning 1910-1913; an address delivered in 1913 to the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association on Mendel's principle of heredity (MS.3284); and some notes on fish and fishing (MS.3285). MSS.5252-5254 comprise more personal and more miscellaneous material. MS.5252 is a scrapbook kept by Lillie, containing news cuttings, photographs and miscellaneous papers, spanning the period c.1845-1910 and including cuttings (with portrait prints) on science and scientists, 1845-1901; caricatures by Lillie of lecturers and staff at Birmingham University, 1904-1905; geological photographs, 1907-1909; family photographs (including a group class portrait at United Services' College, Westward Ho!, c.1892); and ephemera from Cambridge, 1909-1910. MS.5253 comprises cuttings from newspapers and illustrated magazines, spanning 1910-1914 and mainly relating to Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic Expedition. Finally MS.5254 comprises correspondence and very miscellaneous papers from the period 1824-1938 (plus some undated material) among them letters to his grandfather John Lillie D.D. (1806-1866), and to his maternal relatives the Macaire family, and letters to Lillie from E.A.N. Arber, Caroline Oates and others.

MSS.3356-3382 comprise journals and memorandum books documenting the various phases of McCormick's career, as follows: MS.3356, sketchbook relating to West Indies and South America voyages, 1824-1825; MS.3357, journal of voyage north of Spitsbergen in the Hecla, 1827; MS.3358, notes of lectures on natural philosophy by Robert Jameson (1774-1854) at Edinburgh University, 1830-1831; MS.3359, diary of voyages to West Indies and South America, 1830-1832; MS.3360, half-pay diaries (7 volumes), 1830-1838; MS.3361, diaries covering 1823-1830, fair copy; MS.3362, sketch book covering voyages in North Sea and West Indies, 1832-1833; MS.3363, diary covering blockade of Dutch coast and voyage to West Indies, 1832-1834; MS.3364, diary of a walking tour in Devon (apparently part of a longer journey of which the other journal volumes are not extant), 1834-1835; MS.3365, diary while fitting out the Antarctic expedition of the Erebus, 1839; MSS.3366-3368, diaries written during the Erebus Antarctic expedition (15 volumes), 1839-1843; MSS.3369-3370, meteorological and ornithological logs respectively of the Erebus Antarctic expedition, 1839-1843; MS.3371, half-pay diaries (4 volumes), 1843-1845; MS.3372, memorandum book on Arctic discovery, chiefly compiled during the voyage of the North Star as part of the search for Sir John Franklin, 1848-1852; MS.3373, diary while fitting out the North Star as part of the search for Sir John Franklin, 1852; MSS.3374-3380, diaries written during the voyage of the North Star as part of the search for Sir John Franklin, 1852-1853; MSS.3381-3382, meteorological tables and sketches respectively, made during the voyage of the North Star as part of the search for Sir John Franklin, 1852-1853. MS.8682 comprises loose miscellaneous material, chiefly printed, relating to various phases of McCormick's career: evolving versions of his Narrative of a Boat-Expedition up the Wellington Channel in the Year 1852 (London: Eyre and Spotteswoode, 1854), plus testimonials, printed items by other authors including the Arctic traveller Dr. Richard King, publisher's advertisements and newspapers.

The collection centres on Wallich's work on biology, particularly marine biology, and his belief that other figures in the field were ignoring or plagiarising his discoveries. As well as his notes, it includes a collection of offprints by Wallich (MS.4969) and a collection of offprints by other scientists, with Wallich's comments (MS.4970).

Papers of John Alan Gulland, 1972-1990, comprising correspondence and papers from Gulland's period as Senior Research Fellow at Imperial College, London, 1984-1990; drafts for publications and editorial correspondence; papers relating to his consultancies, including those for the European Community and the Canadian Government; documentation of overseas visits, including a 1985 visit to Antarctica; correspondence files.

Correspondence of Sir Albert Hastings Markham, 1876-1880, including letters to Mr Isbister, on the subject of the publication of his book The great frozen sea, Apr 1878-Sep 1880, together with a letter from Clements R Markham on the same topic, 22 May 1878 and letter from Markham to 'Mammie' from HMS ALERT, 26 Oct 1876.

Papers of Alexander Hamilton Rice, 1917-1928, comprising notes and observations by Rice including of the Rio Grande, Brazil, 1917 and 1919-1920; notes and correspondence about expeditions of 1924-1925 and 1926-1928; journals 1920-1921 from South American expeditions 'The Rio Negro, the Casquiare Canal and the upper Orinoco'; and journal entitled 'Some notes on the Brazilian Amazon and the Venezuela-Guyana expedition', 1925.

Papers of Edward Ayearst Reeves, 1909-1930, including notes on Robert E Peary's report and observations from his expedition to the North Pole, 1919, 'On terrestrial magnetism', letters, maps, and observations (of which some are copies of Peary's and others unidentified), 1909 and memoirs of Reeves' time at the Royal Geographical Society, 1930.

Papers of Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton comprising correspondence, mementoes and ephemera relating mainly to Shackleton's Antarctic expeditions including the Nimrod Expedition 1908-1909, the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Endurance Expedition) 1914-1916 and the Quest Expedition 1921-1923; two photograph albums of Aurora; minute book of the Shackleton Memorial Committee and a photocopy of a diary of Thomas Orde Lees on Elephant Island, 1916.

Papers of Louis Charles Bernacchi, 1901-1925, including private diary covering the voyage of the DISCOVERY, 14 Feb-5 Nov [1901-1904], including sketch maps and photographs and folder containing a synopsis of the Antarctic expedition of 1925.

Papers of Captain Robert McClure, 1836-1853, including journal, Jun 1836-Sep 1837, as mate on HMS TERROR, on George Back's second expedition in search of the North-West Passage; letter and order book, Dec 1849-Oct 1851; journal Jan-Sep 1850, while in command of HMS INVESTIGATOR on the Franklin search expedition; copies of despatches to the Admiralty, Aug 1850-Apr 1853; photocopy of record deposited on Banks Island, 1851 and copy of a letter to Sir George Back from HMS INVESTIGATOR, Apr 1853, describing the discovery of the Northwest Passage.

Six personal letters of Belcher, 1864-1865 with some reference to Arctic matters. Record deposited at Arthur Strait in 1853 and recovered by Sverdrup expedition 1899-1902. Table of latitudes from west coast of America and Pacific determined on board HMS Sulfur, 1837-1842. Geographical subject headings: 1) ARCTIC 2) CANADA 3) UNITED STATES 4) PACIFIC OCEAN.

Papers of Sir John Franklin, 1801-1847, chiefly relating to the ill-fated Franklin Expedition in search of the North-West Passage on HM Ships Erebus and Terror, 1845-1847, and the subsequent expeditions sent to search for survivors or relics of the expedition. Also, some earlier letters from Franklin mainly to relatives and letters from relatives to or about him. Some items relating to the bicentenary of Franklin's birth celebrated in 1986.

Papers collected by Townsend W Thorndike relating to exploration, chiefly in the Arctic including manuscript material, cuttings from periodicals and printed ephemera, 1746-1920.

Papers of Dr John Fiott consisting of forty-three letters written to Lee by Rear-Admiral Sir John Ross (1777-1856) and some papers, mainly printed, relating to the organisation of the FELIX expedition of 1850 to 1851 in search of Sir John Franklin. The earlier letters refer to this voyage, which was unsuccessful in finding Franklin. The later letters contain many references to Ross's participation in scientific societies, and in particular to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. There are critical comments on the official expeditions searching for Franklin. The letters also deal with the translation and publication in 1856 of a memoir of the Russian circumnavigator Admiral Krusenstern (1770-1846). There are many references to events in and around Ross's home town of Stranraer.

Papers of Philip Ruffle Sharpe, comprising diaries, 1857-1859, and letterbooks, 1867-1870 and 1875-1877, together with official service documents and a few letters and photographs, Sharpe's own copy of The Voyage of the Rattlesnake, by John MacGillivray (London, 1852, 2 vols), and typescript extracts from an autobiography up to 1849. The letters include one from Sharpe's brother-in-law, William R Hobson, a lieutenant in the FOX, under Captain F L McClintock, describing the finding of relics of the expedition led by Sir John Franklin. There are service papers, three logs and a notebook kept by Commander Philip William Carwithen Sharpe (1884-1957), Sharpe's son, as a midshipman in the MAJESTIC, Channel, 1900 to 1901, DIANA, Mediterranean, 1901 to 1902, and ARIADNE, West Indies, 1902 to 1903. There are also a few service papers of Second Officer Mary Gertrude Sharpe, WRNS (Mrs M G Corran).

Papers of Sir George Back, 1814-1878, including c. 250 letters addressed to Sir George Back by various correspondents (listed by name), 1848-1878; personal letters from Back to his family, 1813-1878; photocopies of extracts from Back's sketchbook and slides of his sketches from 1819-1822 expedition to Arctic; passports and framed letter with sketches of polar bear, 1874.

Images by Walter Waller May including twelve lithographs from drawings made by May on board HMS ASSISTANCE on a Franklin Search Expedition, 1852 and a watercolour, 'Beechey Island' 1852.