Sargant was an outspoken supporter and practitioner of what he termed the 'practical rather than philosophical approaches' to the treatment of mental illness, pioneering and publicising various physical treatments and vociferously opposing the use of psychoanalytic techniques. The majority of the collection consists of his writings, both published and unpublished, supplemented by a small quantity of correspondence and other material. In addition, the collection contains clinical records for about 500 cases from Sutton Emergency Hospital in the 1940s. As well as covering clinical subjects (in Sections D, E, and F) and Sargant's views on the practice of psychiatry in general (Section B), the collection also contains material relating to his interest in the related issues of religious conversion and brainwashing (Section G).

Papers of Dr. Letitia Fairfield, reflecting her interests in social hygiene, in mental health, in medico-legal matters and criminology, mother and child health and welfare, and as a Roman Catholic convert, as well as her broader political and feminist convictions. There is also some biographical material.

Papers created by Alfred Claude Bromhead during his time in Russia, 1916-1917, and a varied collection of miscellany compiled by him, with items dating from 1510 to the 1930s. These include a contemporary illustration of the funeral procession of Anne of Cleves in 1557 and a collection of engravings of the life of the Virgin by Alberto Durer from 1510. There are also volumes of sketches of London and letters and newspaper cuttings, the subjects of which include the history of London, criminology and The Gentlemen's Magazine.

Papers of Sir William Henry Willcox, relating to a variety of topics: murder trials, criminal abortion, the use of insulin and the production of table salt.

Papers of Joanna Elizabeth Kelley, 1842-1980, mainly relating to the UK prison service, including historical notes, 1921-1980, on subjects relating to prison buildings, prisoners, legal aid, mental illness, prison security and young offenders; general historical notes and documents, 1842-1980, on Holloway Prison, health and hygiene, suffragettes, and women offenders, notably the manuscript diary of the suffragette Annie Cobden-Sanderson written during her imprisonment in 1906, and papers relating to the Duchess of Bedford's Enquiry into Holloway Prison in 1919 ; bibliographies relating to aspects of the prison service, 1970-1980; card indexes for notes on prison organisation and regulations, [1970-1980]; photograph albums, 1970-1971, containing photographs taken by Robert Donat of HM Prison Holloway, including architectural views, interior and exterior, and staff and prisoners; material relating to the penal system in Australia, 1966-1970, notably surveys of prison populations and developments in the treatment of female prisoners.

The Josephine Butler Society Library is an unrivalled resource for the study of sexuality and public morality from the late nineteenth to the mid twentieth century. This unique collection of books, pamphlets, periodicals, leaflets and, campaigning documents, covers subjects ranging from the regulation of prostitution, venereal disease, social purity, sexuality and public health to criminology, penology, eugenics and population control. Although a small number of individual items continue to be added to the collection by the Josephine Butler Society, the bulk of the printed materials date from the late nineteenth and early to mid twentieth centuries.

The Josephine Butler Society Library is particularly important because it brings together the Library of the organisation alongside its campaigning literature and business papers. In addition to sources for the study of prostitution and attitudes to sexuality in Britain the collection includes significant amounts of material on slavery, procuring, public health and the armed forces in India. It contains late nineteenth century works on sexology by Havelock Ellis, Bloch, Forel and Krafft-Ebing and psychology by Freud, Jung and Ellis, as well as works on marriage, the family and sex education. Although most material in the collection is in English there are small but significant numbers of works in European languages. The geographic scope of the collection extends beyond Britain and the Commonwealth; papers of the International Bureau for the Suppression of Traffic in Persons 1899-1968, for example, relate to the Bureau's work with the League of Nations.

Papers of historian Raphael Samuel, 1934-1996, notably including working papers on the heritage of East London; doctoral notes on the Victorian poor; an ethnographic contribution to Michael Young's pioneering sociological research on family and kinship in Bethnal Green; records concerning the East End underworld gathered through the oral history of Arthur Harding, criminal and Barnardo boy; printed and manuscript material, including notes, correspondence, publication drafts, photographs, slides, pamphlets, annotated newspaper and journal extracts concerning all aspects of Raphael Samuel's work, publications and career; 140 audio and video cassettes containing recordings of radio and television appearances and conversations with other historians, reels of film, photographs and index cards, c1950-1996.

Papers of Dr Mary McIntosh, 1960-1991, mainly relating to gay and feminist politics, notably scrapbooks and correspondence relating to a House UnAmerican Activities protest made by McIntosh and others whilst at the University of California, Berkeley, 1960; material relating to the National Deviancy Conference, 1968-[1975]; magazines and cuttings relating to the international homophile movement, [1965], including Arena Three; material relating to the Women's Liberation Movement, including papers collected at Women's Liberation and Soc-Fem conferences, 1971-1981, as well as papers, newsletters and booklets concerning the Women's Liberation Independence Campaign (WLIC), 1975-1979, the Fifth Demand Group (who campaigned for the financial and legal independence of married and cohabiting women), and Rights of Women (ROW), 1979-1980; material relating to McIntosh's work with the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), 1970-1973, including minutes and notes of meetings, newsletters, and copies of Come Together, Lunch and Gay News; papers collected from conferences with feminist input, 1976-1982, notably the Socialist Feminist Forum; magazines and pamphlets relating to feminism, gay and lesbian politics and socialism, [1970]-1981, including WIRE, Red Rag and Scarlet Woman; papers relating to the Prostitutes' Safe House Project, Camden, 1984; minutes, press cuttings and mailings of the Feminists Against Censorship (FAC), 1989-1991; left and anarchist pamphlets collected within the GLF and the WLM, [1970-1973], including material relating to the Angry Brigade.