Papers of Sir Richard Collinson including private journals for 1836, 1850 to 1855, logs, 1843 to 1846, a remark book, 1850 to 1851, and letterbooks, 1845 to 1846 and 1850 to 1854. There is a large amount of material relating to Collinson's survey work, in particular to China and to the voyage of the ENTERPRISE. It includes numerous records of observations and calculations on navigation, magnetic variation, meteorology and tides. There is also a large body of official, semi-official and private correspondence, 1835 to 1855, together with copies of some letters and memoranda by Collinson. His correspondents included Sir Francis Beaufort (1774-1857), Hydrographer to the Admiralty, Peter la Trobe (1795-1863), Horatio T. Austin (so. 1800-1865) and John Barrow the younger (1808-1898). The only items relating to his later career are notebooks on his work for Trinity House and printed papers, mainly official publications.

Papers of James Rennell including brief memorandum of the heights of St. Helena, [1777], copy of a letter from Rennell to Sir Joseph Banks, 19 Oct 1817, on Atlantic currents and manuscript index map to charts 'Investigation of currents of the Atlantic Ocean' published in 1832.

Notes of lectures delivered in Cambridge by Nicholas Sanderson. Subjects covered include hydrostatics, tides, sounds, optics, mechanics and astronomy.

Manuscripts of meteorological observations, with magnetic surveys and tide tables. The series contains 393 sets of results in all formats from tables to diaries, in all sizes from single sheets to runs of several volumes and from all areas of the world. This type of record has been solicited by the Society during several periods of its history. Its own observations until 1843 (when the duties were transferred to the Royal Greenwich Observatory) are recorded in 16 volumes for the period 1827-1843 (MA.230-249). Various other manuscripts cover the information gathering done by the Meteorological Committee.
Includes MA.154 observations sent by Michael Faraday to the Royal Society.