Records of the Royal Association for Deaf People. The collection contains a wealth of information relating to the development of work with Deaf people over the 19th and 20th centuries in London and south-east England, including relief of the necessitous poor in the 19th century, the establishment of Deaf church communities from the 1880s and the early promotion of Sign Language as a recognised form of communication in the 1850s by Reverend Samuel Smith.

The records include:

Corporate records (LMA/4172/A) in relation to the Association's Trustee Committee, Standing Subcommittee, Executive Committee, Building Committee, Spiritual Subcommittee, Personnel Committee, Property and Personnel Sub-Committee, Finance and Fund Raising Committee, Public Relations Subcommittee, secretary's correspondence, annual reports, agreements, permanent year end papers, annual general meetings, Board of Trustees papers, and Essex Deaf Council.

Financial and Staff records (LMA/4172/B) consisting of accounts, legacies, salaries and expenses, and Staff meetings Minutes, and administration.

Records of Saint Faith's Home (LMA/4172/C) consisting of minutes of the Management Committee, accounts, and registration.

Branch and Mission Church records (LMA/4172/D) in relation to Croydon Branch, Saint Barnabus Church in Lerwisham, Saint Matthews Mission and Saint Paul's Hall in Walworth, Woolwich Deaf and Dumb Mission in Beresford Square, Saint Bedes in Lambeth, All Saints in Croydon, Saint Saviours Chapel on Oxford Street, Saint John of Beverely on Green Lane, All Saints in West Ham, and Saint Cedd in Romford.

Printed Material and photographs (LMA/4172/E) consisting of press cuttings, magazines and newsletters, events material and talks, photographs, posters/leaflets and advertising material, staff resources, and historical notes.

Audio-visual records (LMA/4172/F) consisting of videos and audio cassettes.

Electronic records (LMA/4172/G) consisting of documents saved on a CD.

Property records (LMA/4172/H) in relation to 120 Selhurst Road in Croydon, 26 Harold Road in Essex, and 4 The Drive in Middlesex.

Records of Shenley Hospital, 1931-1974, including minutes from various committees including the Middlesex Colony sub-committee, Standing sub-committee, Middlesex Colony Staff sub-committee, Management sub-committee and Mental Hospitals committee; administrative files including resolutions, annual reports, commissioners reports, Board of Control statistics, hospital services statistics, and contract specifications and estimates. Patient records include medical registers, admission and discharge registers, death registers, civil registers of voluntary and certified patients, and matron's reports. There are also records relating to staff and finance, and a large series of hospital plans dating from the 1930's when the hospital was opened. Most are architectural plans of the villas and other buildings which made up the Shenley Complex. There is also a series of plans which covers the whole site showing layouts of the villas and includes an overall key to the coding of the hospital buildings.

The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence: the Singers were clearly vigorous letter writers and both Charles and Dorothea had an enormous number of family, friends and acquaintances. Unfortunately many of their letters were hand written and very few carbon copies survive. Very occasionally an attempt at methodical selection and arrangement is evident: on the whole correspondence had been kept in alphabetical order, and this has been retained in the arrangement of the collection. Dorothea and Charles' correspondence was fairly mixed (reflecting their working life together) with the exception of two distinct groups: correspondence about Dorothea's research on alchemical manuscripts, and later correspondence about her hearing aids.

The main part of the collection centres on the correspondence; this has been grouped together in a self-evident sequence: writings and biographical personal papers follow. Certain of Dorothea's papers remained clearly distinct and these have been kept together. Section E contains a variety of material relating to Jewish refugees, which had been placed on one side by Dorothea after the war for permanent preservation. It has not been listed in detail but sorted into three broad categories. The last section, comprising additional correspondence of the Singers with Sir Zachary Cope, Sir Arthur Salusbury MacNalty and Dr F N L Poynter, is not strictly part of the collection, but these groups of correspondence were given to the Institute to be placed alongside the Singer papers.

Minutes and presented papers of Special Committees, Joint Committees and Advisory Committees of the Middlesex County Council, 1889-1965:

Airports Committee

Arms Committee

Auxiliary Forces Committee

Barnet Union Committee

Bridges Committee

Common Interests Committee

County Solicitor Committee

Dyrham Park Committee

Edmonton Union Committee

Education Committee

Governance Committee

Guildhall Committee

Health Committee

Local Government Committee

Medical Committee

Member of County Council Committee

National Insurance Committee

Officers Committee

Pensions Committee

Physically Handicapped Committee

Planning Committee

Poor Law Committee

Quarter Sessions Committee

Refuse Dumps Committee

Registration of Title Committee

Richmond Hill Committee

Road Stone Committee

Testimonial Committee

Thames Committee

Unemployed Workmen Committee

Vagrancy Committee

Voluntary Hospitals Committee

Wild Birds Committee

Records of Springfield Hospital, 1844-1990, including committee minutes and papers, annual reports, reports by the Commissioners of Lunacy and the Commissioners of the Board of Control, general administrative files, records of the League of Friends, admission and discharge registers, death, discharge and transfer registers, medical journals and treatment records, social histories of patients, staff records, financial records, plans of the hospital, photographs and publications.

Records of Swaylands School, consisting of interior and exterior photographs of the building, including photographs of school lessons, prize giving and the school fete, 1957-1959.

Records of Ticehurst House Hospital, 1787-1975. Records of private asylums have had an extremely poor survival rate compared with those in the public sector, which have had the benefits of statutory protection and a greater measure of continuity. The Ticehurst House records, however, are unusually well preserved, and some of the more important series in its archive are remarkably complete. No central management or Board minutes for the asylum have been traced, and may not have been kept prior to 1918 given the informal management of the institution at that time by the Newington family. However the various categories of records kept in accordance with the lunacy legislation, including a remarkable series of casebooks, are well preserved, especially for the period 1845-1948. The Hospital and its General Manager are therefore greatly to be thanked for making these records available for research.

Records of Tooting Bec Hospital, including Hospital management committee and sub-committee minutes and papers, 1948-1967; London County Council Tooting Bec Hospital sub committee papers, 1907-1948; Medical Superintendants report book, 1903-1911; Steward's report books, 1912-1948; admission and discharge books, 1930-1936; register of admission (male and female), 1948-1954; register of admission (male), 1936-1951; register of admission (female), 1936-1949 and 1957-1961; register of transfers, discharges and deaths (male), 1936-1962; register of transfers, discharges and deaths (female), 1936-1950 and 1962-1964; register of male patients, 1973-1977; creed register, 1938-1947; registers of deaths, 1944-1963; post mortem registers, 1932-1959; card index of patient deaths, 1960-1980; registers of staff, 1902-1909 and 1930-1965 and The History of Tooting Bec Hospital by Sue Simmons, 1995.

Papers of Baron Franz von Rigal relating to his illness and to his daughter, Marguerite, 1911-1920.

Letters from Mary Ward (also known as Mrs Humphry Ward) relating to the establishment of a school for Invalid Children at the Passmore Edwards Settlement, Tavistock Place (later known as the Mary Ward Settlement).

Case papers of the London County Council Welfare Department relating to blind and partially sighted persons, 1930-1956. Please note that files may be closed for Data Protection purposes.