Papers of Capt John Archer, 1889-1938, including: diaries, 1889-1896, 1901, 1908-1910, 1919, 1921-1922, 1925 and 1938; correspondence with family, friends and colleagues detailing his military experiences, 1893-1913; papers relating to Archer's career, including notebook containing details of service record, examinations passed, certificates gained and financial accounts, 1889-1894; list of warrant and non-commissioned officers at School of Musketry, Hythe, Oct 1895; printed map of Mashonaland, 1896; issues of The Rhodesia Herald, 1896, concerning the Mashonaland Uprising; general instructions for non-commissioned officers, 1897; timetable for movement of Archer's unit from Omdurman, 1898; poem 'The Night Attack on Surprise Hill', by Pte J Gibbons, 1899; sketch map of Lydenburg and the surrounding countryside, South Africa, by R Verney, 2 Lieutenant, Rifle Brigade, [1899]; lithograph map of Cairo, War Office, 1901; special orders announcing proclamation of peace, June 1902; Intelligence summaries, Jan and April 1902; order of service for Military Thanksgiving Service for the Restoration of Peace, Pretoria, Jun 8 1902; order of service for Coronation Day, 26 Jun 1902; parade service for visit of the Amir of Afghanistan to Agra, Jan 1907, with map showing locations of troop billets and plan of organisation of troop review; papers relating to Archer's time as POW, Germany and Holland, 1914-1918, and press cuttings, correspondence and reports relating to Archer's job as Superintendent of Prisons, Nyasaland, 1920-1936.

Rifle and athletic meeting programmes, with press cuttings recording Archer's successes, 1898-1914. Photograph album showing manoeuvres, Malta, 1897; Crete, 1898; punitive raids on Transvaal farms, including taking Boer women into concentration camps, 1901; Middleburg and Groot Oliphant Camps, 1901-1902; views of Egypt including parades, inspections, sports and camps, 1902-1905; photographs of groups of POWs, Merseburg Camp and examples of paper money used in the Merseburg Camp, 1914-1919. Also copy of A Fine Chest of Medals: The Life of Jack Archer, Colin Baker (Mpemba Books: Cardiff, 2003).

Papers relating to his military service, 1944-1945, principally comprising war diary including maps and photographs, Sep 1944-Jul 1945; copy of report on the liberation of Belsen written for the Director of Military Government by Lt Col R I G Taylor, Officer Commanding, 63 Anti Tank Regt, [1945]; orders relating to the occupation and administration of Belsen, from Brig General Staff of 8 Corps, British Liberation Army, April 1945; report on Belsen by Capt Barker, Royal Army Medical Corps, 63 Anti Tank Regt, Jun 1945; letter to British officers from a group of Czech women prisoners describing their treatment in Belsen, 1945; Barnett's notes for a talk on Belsen, ND; photographs showing inmates and conditions in Belsen, 1945; newspaper cuttings relating to Victory in Europe Day, the liberation of Belsen and the Belsen trial, May-Oct 1945; 'Report by the Supreme Commander to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the operations in Europe of the Allied Expeditionary Force, June 1944-May 1945', issued by HMSO, 1946.